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Resources for People Who Are Homeless

Are you homeless? If so, you are not alone. This year, as many as two million different people will find themselves without a regular place to stay. Resources are available to help you with shelter, health care and other needs. This page can direct you to assistance in your community.

Housing

  • Shelters & other homeless services
    The National Coalition for the Homeless online Directory of Local Homeless Service Organizations and Directory of Homeless & Housing Advocacy Coalitions, listed by state.
  • U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
    This site lists programs managed by local organizations that provide a range of services, including shelter, food, counseling, and jobs skills programs. Here you can find services in your area.

Medical

  • Health Care for the Homeless Grantees
    Here you can look up Health Care for the Homeless (HCH) providers in every state and learn about the services that they provide.
  • Find a Health Center Tool
    This will help you locate HRSA-supported health centers, where you may go to receive free or low-cost health care. It is designed to be a simple-to-use tool: enter an address, city, or county and the tool finds health centers in the area near it. You can view the search results as a list only, or as a list with an accompanying map that shows where each health center is located. You can print the search results, email them to yourself or to someone else that you think may be interested, and get driving directions to any of the health centers you find. The Find a Health Center tool is also available as an app for both iPhone and Android.
  • The National Kidney Foundation’s Kidney Early Evaluation Program (KEEP®) offers free screening for those at risk – anyone 18 years and older with high blood pressure, diabetes or a family history of kidney disease.  For more information on a screening near you, visit their events page.

Legal

Family

  • One Family Scholars Program
    This organization is committed to ending family homelessness in Massachusetts, one family at a time. The One Family Scholars Program provides financial support for higher education, interwoven in a system of support services that parents need in order to clear the barriers that often prevent them from preparing for, and achieving, financial security. Recipients of One Family Scholarships are typically homeless or formerly homeless women with children. Many have attempted to better their career opportunities in the past, and have been thwarted by the need to provide health care, day care or other essential services to family members that overwhelm their finances and ambition. One Family seeks to empower these mothers with the tools they need to provide for their families while completing their education and planning for a secure and safe future.
    How Do I Become a Scholar? If you are homeless or formerly homeless and living in Massachusetts, click here to find out.

Get Involved

  • National Consumer Advisory Board (NCAB)
    Visit NCAB’s site to see what you can do to help consumers advise policymakers, service providers, and other stakeholders. You can apply to be a member online, read the newsletter, and contact NCAB.
    Are you a client of a Health Care for the Homeless Project? The National Health Care for the Homeless Council is committed to including clients of HCH projects on advisory boards and governing groups. For information about joining an HCH consumer advisory board in your community, or for more information about working with other HCH client leaders throughout the country, click here.

Other Resources

Publications by and for people who are homeless: A street newspaper is a publication created to increase the public’s awareness of poverty and homeless issues, as well as to provide flexible employment opportunities for homeless people. Most street newspapers provide papers to homeless vendors for 20% to 40% of the cover price, which is usually $1. The self-employed vendor sells the papers on the street and keeps the money he or she makes. Street newspapers now operate in 47 cities throughout North America and in dozens of other cities in Europe, Africa, Australia and the Caribbean.