Design Case Study
Homelessness is a growing crisis in America.
Home Unite Us is a volunteer-led initiative within Hack for LA, created in partnership with community nonprofits to strengthen Host Home programs. These programs provide housing for young adults ages 18–25 experiencing homelessness by pairing them with community members who open their homes. Coordinators facilitate the program, Hosts provide stable housing, and Guests are the young people seeking support.
As part of the Host team, I worked on designing a scalable workflow management tool to streamline processes across providers, reduce institutional bias, and improve how data is captured. Our goal was to create a system that not only made program operations more efficient but also ensured that youth could access housing support with dignity and fairness.
Objectives –
Streamline the matching process between Hosts and Guests.
Reduce candidate drop-off through clearer flows and user-friendly forms.
Increase efficiency for Coordinators, enabling them to close more cases.
Provide visibility and accountability for all parties.
Problems
High candidate drop-off rates during onboarding for Hosts and Guests.
Inefficient workflows for Coordinators, limiting the number of cases they could manage.
Lack of transparency for stakeholders, slowing down the process of moving people into safe housing.
Solutions
Streamline the matching process between Hosts and Guests.
Reduce candidate drop-off through clearer flows and user-friendly forms.
Increase efficiency for Coordinators, enabling them to close more cases.
Provide visibility and accountability for all parties.
My Role –
UX Designer on the Host Team along with other designers
Collaborated with Coordinators and non-profit stakeholders
Contributed to research, journey mapping, wireframes, and prototyping
Research & Insights
We conducted stakeholder interviews, competitive analysis, and mapped the workflows of each role:
Hosts wanted clarity and ease of onboarding, reducing friction in background checks and paperwork.
Guests valued speed and clear communication, as long waiting periods discouraged participation.
Coordinators needed a centralized system to manage, track, and close cases efficiently.
Key Insights -
Too many steps caused fatigue and abandonment.
Coordinators were the bottleneck due to manual workflows.
A structured, transparent workflow system could increase trust and accelerate matching.
Design Process
User Flow
User Persona
Low-Fidelity Designs
Sarah T.
Age
42
Family Status
Married, Has 2 Kids
Occupation
High School Teacher
Location
Los Angeles, CA
I want to help, but I don’t have hours to figure this out. I just need clear steps and reassurance that everything’s moving forward.
Personality
Compassionate
Practical
Cautious
Open-minded
Organized
Busy
Bio
Sarah is a high school teacher who wants to give back by opening her home to youth in need. With limited time between work and family, she needs a clear, supportive onboarding process that makes it easy to get involved without feeling overwhelmed.
Core needs
•
A streamlined, guided onboarding flow that breaks tasks into manageable steps.
•
Transparency into the status of her application (e.g., background check progress, matching stage).
•
Clear instructions and resources that answer common questions.
Pain Points
•
Onboarding feels long and confusing with too many forms and unclear steps.
•
Limited time to navigate a complex process while balancing family and work.
•
Uncertainty about where she is in the approval/matching process.
Goals
•
Provide a safe, temporary home to help a young person in need.
•
Complete the onboarding process smoothly without too much administrative hassle.
•
Feel confident and supported throughout the matching process.
Reflection -
This was my first project where I had to be mindful of three distinct user groups — Hosts, Guests, and Coordinators. While I worked primarily on the Host team, collaborating across teams pushed me to consider how design decisions for one group could directly impact the experience of the others. It reinforced the importance of thinking at a system level, not just within a single user flow.
I also gained valuable experience in cross-collaboration with developers and project managers. Partnering with developers helped me design solutions that were both user-friendly and technically feasible, while project managers ensured alignment across timelines and priorities. Together, these experiences strengthened my ability to balance user needs, technical constraints, and business goals in order to deliver a cohesive product.
Impact -
While still in development, the redesigned system is projected to:
Increase case closure rates by reducing administrative overhead for Coordinators.
Improve retention of Hosts and Guests through a smoother experience.
Accelerate time-to-match, moving people into safe housing more quickly.
Iterative Testing
Conducted usability testing sessions with stakeholders and volunteers. Adjustments included:
Breaking down long forms into smaller steps
Visual progress indicators to reduce uncertainty
Clearer status updates for Guests and Hosts
High Fidelity Designs
