How to Find Emergency Shelter Near You
If you're facing homelessness or are already without a place to sleep tonight, finding emergency shelter is the most urgent priority. Emergency shelters provide a safe place to stay, meals, and access to services that can help you stabilize your situation and work toward permanent housing. This guide explains the types of emergency shelter available, how to access them, what to expect, and what other resources are available to help.
Types of Emergency Shelter
Not all shelters are the same. Understanding the different types can help you find the right fit for your situation.
Traditional Emergency Shelters
These are the most common type of homeless shelter. They provide a bed (usually in a shared dormitory-style room), meals, showers, and basic necessities. Most operate on a nightly basis — you check in each evening and leave in the morning. Some require you to line up before a certain time to secure a bed, while others use a reservation or referral system.
Traditional shelters may be general population (serving anyone) or may focus on specific groups such as men only, women only, families with children, or youth and young adults. Some shelters separate populations for safety reasons.
Family Shelters
Family shelters are designed to keep families together. They typically provide private or semi-private rooms rather than open dormitories, meals and kitchen access, daytime programming for children, case management to help families find permanent housing, and connections to schools, childcare, and employment services.
Demand for family shelters often exceeds capacity. If a family shelter is full, call 211 or your local coordinated entry system for alternative options — some communities use hotel and motel vouchers to shelter families when dedicated facilities are at capacity.
Domestic Violence Shelters
If you're fleeing domestic violence, specialized shelters provide safe, confidential locations. These shelters keep their addresses private and offer safety planning, legal advocacy, counseling, and help with protective orders. Contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or text START to 88788 to find shelter near you.
Warming and Cooling Centers
During extreme weather, many communities open temporary warming centers (in winter) or cooling centers (in summer). These may operate out of community centers, churches, libraries, or other public facilities. They provide a safe place to escape dangerous temperatures but may not offer beds or overnight stays.
Safe Parking Programs
Some communities offer safe parking programs where individuals living in their vehicles can park overnight in designated, monitored lots. These programs provide security, restroom access, and connections to services. Check with your local homeless services agency to see if this option exists in your area.
How to Find Shelter
Call 211
This is often the fastest way to find shelter. Dial 211 from any phone (available in most of the United States) to speak with a trained specialist who can identify available shelter beds and other resources in your area. The service is free, confidential, and available 24 hours a day in many communities.
Coordinated Entry
Most communities now use a Coordinated Entry System for accessing homeless services. Coordinated Entry provides a single point of access for all homeless services in a community, ensuring that people are connected to the most appropriate resources based on their needs.
To access Coordinated Entry, contact your local homeless services hotline, visit an access point (often located at shelters, day centers, or social service agencies), or call 211 and ask to be connected to coordinated entry.
Through Coordinated Entry, you'll complete a brief assessment that helps determine your needs and prioritize you for available services. This system is used for emergency shelter, transitional housing, rapid rehousing, and permanent supportive housing.
Contact Shelters Directly
If you know of shelters in your area, you can contact them directly. Many shelters have specific intake procedures — some accept walk-ins on a first-come, first-served basis, while others require phone reservations or referrals through coordinated entry.
When calling, ask about bed availability and how to secure a spot, intake hours and check-in procedures, whether they serve your demographic (single adults, families, veterans, youth, etc.), what to bring and what's not allowed, and how long you can stay.
Other Resources for Finding Shelter
Your local Department of Social Services or Human Services may have emergency housing resources. Hospital social workers can help connect patients being discharged with shelter services. Police departments and fire stations can often provide information about local shelters. Libraries and community centers may have information about local resources.
What to Expect at an Emergency Shelter
Every shelter is different, but there are common elements you're likely to encounter.
Intake Process
When you arrive, you'll typically complete an intake process that includes providing your name and basic information (some shelters allow anonymous stays), agreeing to shelter rules and expectations, a brief assessment of your needs, and in some cases, a screening for tuberculosis or other communicable diseases.
Rules and Expectations
Shelters have rules designed to maintain safety for all residents. Common rules include curfew times (you must be inside by a certain hour), no alcohol or drugs on the premises, no weapons, quiet hours, expectations around cleanliness and chores, and sign-in and sign-out procedures.
Understanding and following shelter rules is important. Violations can result in being asked to leave.
What to Bring
If possible, bring a government-issued ID (though lack of ID should not prevent you from accessing shelter), any medications you're taking, important documents such as birth certificate, Social Security card, or benefit letters (keep these with you at all times), a change of clothes, and personal hygiene items.
Shelters typically provide bedding, towels, and basic toiletries if you don't have them. Most shelters have limited secure storage, so avoid bringing valuables.
Services Available
Beyond a bed and meals, many shelters offer or connect residents with case management and housing navigation, employment assistance and job training, substance abuse treatment referrals, mental health services, medical care or referrals, help obtaining identification documents, assistance applying for benefits such as SNAP, Medicaid, and SSI, and legal services.
Take advantage of these services. They're designed to help you move from shelter to permanent housing as quickly as possible.
For Veterans
Veterans experiencing homelessness have access to additional resources specifically funded through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The National Call Center for Homeless Veterans can be reached at 1-877-424-3838. The HUD-VASH program provides permanent housing vouchers combined with VA supportive services. Grant and Per Diem programs fund transitional housing specifically for veterans. Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) provides rapid rehousing and homelessness prevention.
VA services are available regardless of discharge status for many programs. Contact the National Call Center or your local VA Medical Center to learn about available resources.
For Youth and Young Adults
Unaccompanied youth (typically defined as ages 18-24, or in some programs younger) have access to specialized services. The National Runaway Safeline at 1-800-786-2929 provides crisis intervention and referrals. Covenant House and other youth-serving organizations operate shelters specifically for young people. Transitional Living Programs (TLPs) provide longer-term housing with life skills training. Many communities have drop-in centers that provide daytime services for homeless youth.
Moving Beyond Emergency Shelter
Emergency shelter is meant to be a temporary solution. While you're in shelter, work with case managers and service providers to develop a plan for permanent housing. Key programs that can help include Rapid Rehousing, which provides short-term rental assistance and services to help you move into permanent housing quickly, Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH), which combines affordable housing with ongoing support services for individuals with disabilities or chronic health conditions, Transitional Housing, which provides temporary housing (usually 6-24 months) with intensive services to prepare you for independent living, and Housing Choice Vouchers (Section 8), which provide ongoing rental assistance in the private market.
The path from shelter to permanent housing looks different for everyone. Some people stabilize within weeks; others need months of support. The critical thing is to engage with the services available and work with your case manager toward a housing plan.
AssistanceFinder.org is an independent informational resource and is not affiliated with any government agency. If you need immediate help, call 211 or contact your local emergency services.