Ideally, I think it needs a bit more support, like a class or information packet or link to one or more websites to help clue them about some things.

It takes time to develop an online income or do research to find a cheaper place to live etc. Long term solutions don't happen overnight. While working on them, people who are destitute still need other services to stay fed, clothed, etc.

But I think it is a lightweight means to support long term goals that many programs currently actively undermine. If you have to stand in line for two hours to get a free meal and do this three times a day to stay adequately fed, it's incredibly hard to job hunt, research what other services exist, etc.

A phone with internet service can potentially allow you to work on things like that while standing in line at a soup kitchen.

Even without the additional support that I would like to see, just having a phone number makes it easier to do things like job hunt. This is critical to getting your life back. Standing in line at soup kitchens keeps body and soul together. It doesn't help you find your way back to a middle class life. It can actively be a barrier to finding your way back.

So, yes, I think it has a lot of potential. A lot of current programs intended to help homeless people get back on their feet aren't terribly effective from what I gather and are much more resource intensive.

As an aside, there is a certain kind of mentality that, upon seeing a homeless person with a phone, declares that the person isn't really homeless or doesn't actually need any assistance. Such homeless would have to be careful to keep them hidden, lest other programs get reduced because people see that these homeless people are actually wealthy.

The most extreme example of this I even came across was someone saying that refugees, escaping the Libyan civil war, were clearly fraudulent because they had phones. There's some kind of unconscious assumption that having a phone indicates a high-level of wealth.