The HelpmApp Story
"Necessity is the mother of invention, but resilience is the father of execution."
The Origin
HelpmApp was born not in a boardroom, but on the streets of London. It started as a personal survival tool—a way to navigate the fragmented, outdated, and often inaccurate landscape of homelessness services.
When you are homeless, information is as vital as food. Knowing where to get a meal, a shower, or legal advice can mean the difference between hope and despair. Yet, the existing directories were static, often years out of date, and unresponsive to real-time needs.
We built HelpmApp to change that.
The "Zero-Cost" Philosophy
Building a tech platform usually requires significant capital. We didn't have that. What we had was time, skills, and a refusal to accept the status quo.
The Stack
We leveraged the best free tiers and open-source technologies to build a production-grade infrastructure for £0/month:
- Hosting: Vercel (Hobby Tier -> Pro Logic)
- Database: Supabase (PostgreSQL Free Tier)
- Auth: Supabase Auth
- Maps: OpenStreetMap + Leaflet (No Google Maps API costs)
- Caching: Redis (Upstash Free Tier)
- CMS: GitHub Issues + Markdown
"Swiss Social Realism"
Our design philosophy, "Swiss Social Realism," combines the functional precision of Swiss design with the empathetic reality of social work. High contrast, clear typography, and zero clutter. It respects the user by value their time and dignity.
The Mission
HelpmApp is more than an app; it's a statement. It proves that you don't need millions in funding to build digital public infrastructure. You just need to solve a real problem for real people.
We are actively onboarding new team members and migrating our development environment to ensure this project outlives its creators. This documentation is our legacy—a blueprint for anyone engaged in humanitarian tech.
Contact
- Email: helpmapp@proton.me
- GitHub: github.com/helpmapp
- X: @helpmapp