How to find emergency shelter, and what to expect when you get there

The types, which are not interchangeable

• Evacuation shelter: opened for a specific event such as a hurricane, wildfire, or flood. Open for the duration, usually in a school or civic center.
• Warming or cooling center: daytime or overnight relief from extreme temperatures. Often a library, community center, or church, with limited hours.
• Emergency overnight shelter: ongoing homeless services, typically with an intake time in the late afternoon and a bed limit.
• Domestic violence shelter: confidential address, accessed only through a hotline, not a map.
• Youth, family, and veteran-specific housing: eligibility rules vary and beds are often held for referrals.

Call before you go

Any list, including ours, can be out of date within an hour during an active event. Call the number first and ask three questions: are you open right now, do you have space, and do you take pets.

In the United States, dialing 211 connects you to a local referral line that knows same-day capacity and can often arrange transport. It is free, confidential, and available in most areas at any hour. If 211 does not serve your area, your county emergency management office is the next call.

What to bring

• Photo ID if you have one, though evacuation shelters cannot turn you away for lacking it.
• Medications in their original bottles, plus your written medication list.
• Phone and charger, a blanket or sleeping bag, and a change of clothes.
• For children: a comfort item and any specific food they rely on.
• For pets: carrier, leash, vaccination record. Many evacuation shelters are pet-friendly under federal disaster rules, but ongoing overnight shelters usually are not.

What intake looks like

Expect to give a name and contact, a rough headcount for your group, and any medical needs. Expect cots or mats in a large shared room, shared bathrooms, and lights that go down at a set hour. Expect rules about alcohol, weapons, and quiet hours.

You can ask for accommodations. Shelters are required to make reasonable accommodations for disability, including service animals, accessible cots, and dietary needs. Say what you need at intake rather than after.

If you are turned away

• Ask them to call around for you. Shelter staff usually know which nearby site still has space.
• Call 211 again and say you were turned away: that changes what they search for.
• Ask about overflow sites, which frequently open late in the evening and are not listed anywhere public.
• If you are in immediate danger from weather and have nowhere to go, call emergency services. Exposure is a medical emergency.

Sources

• 211 national referral service
• American Red Cross shelter information

Keep reading

• Flash floods: why six inches of water is the number that matters
• Spotting disaster relief scams before they cost you