Google Gives Homeless in San Francisco Free Phone with Voicemail Service

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When Google started GrandCentral last year, it provided an online phone service that manages all your telephone numbers in one place. It assigns a personal number that is not tied to a phone or location but instead tied to you.

If you have a mobile, home phone, or office phone, you can transfer the calls to this personal number and then forward it to the number you like.

Google wants to provide this phone service for the homeless, so they can call this number from any phone and retrieve the voice messages from their loved ones or the agencies who might be trying to reach them. They don’t have a home number, but at least others will be able to leave messages.

As part of initial phase, they will provide the service to all the homeless people in San Francisco. They will get a unique life-long phone number and voicemail service for those willing to have it.
It is partnering with Project CARE and San Francisco city to provide this service. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and Google have partnered to provide this service.

Newsom said:

How do you communicate as a homeless individual?...How do you expect your life to turn around if you can't even get information or if someone can't even get in touch with you?

The homeless can forward this number to others, so in case of any job openings or opportunities available they can be reached at that number. It will also help the clinics contact them about their hospital visits and appointments.

Craig Walker, senior project manager of Google, commented:

It just seems exactly like any other voice mail…There's no stigma attached to it that 'hey this is a temporary thing' or 'this is an 800 number.' It's really just a local number owned by the user.

Walker said the program was ready to start right away.

One homeless man was happy to hear this news and he said:

Having your family, friends and loved ones being able to say 'here I'm thinking about you, I love you, I want you to know you're mine, and I miss you,' can have a monumental change in one's behavior.

If the program is successful in San Francisco, the plan is to offer it to homeless people in cities across the country.

If other cities want to involve, they should contact Google, who will be happy to provide this service for homeless people in other areas.