Research · Dataset
Download the dataset
The full HomelessHelp directory in machine-readable formats. Use it for student projects, papers, maps, dashboards, or any other research purpose.
424
Resources
239
Cities
64
States / provinces
Downloads
License
The dataset is released under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY-4.0) license. You can use it for any purpose, including commercial, as long as you credit the source.
Suggested attribution: HomelessHelp.net shelter dataset, CC-BY-4.0, retrieved from homelesshelp.net/data.
Schema
Each row / object has the following fields:
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| id | string | Stable unique identifier |
| name | string | Organization name |
| address | string | Street address (or 'address confidential' for DV shelters) |
| city | string | City name |
| region | string | US state or Canadian province/territory code (e.g. 'CA', 'ON') |
| country | 'US' | 'CA' | ISO country code |
| lat | number | Latitude (decimal degrees, WGS84) |
| lng | number | Longitude (decimal degrees, WGS84) |
| phone | string (optional) | E.164-format phone |
| website | string (optional) | Organization URL |
| populationsServed | string[] | One or more of: all, men, women, youth, children, families, veterans, lgbtq, immigrants, indigenous |
| services | string[] | One or more of: emergency-shelter, transitional-housing, permanent-housing, supportive-housing, meals, food-pantry, day-services, showers, laundry, mail, clothing, case-management, addiction-recovery, harm-reduction, mental-health, medical, healthcare, legal, education, job-training, ESL, childcare, outreach |
| hours | string (optional) | Hours of operation, free-text |
| notes | string (optional) | Free-text contextual notes |
Caveats
- Not exhaustive. This dataset is curated for public usefulness. Major metro areas are well covered; smaller communities less so. Use the submit page to add gaps.
- Best-effort accuracy, not real-time. Phone numbers and hours change frequently in this sector. The data is updated when readers flag issues but is not a live feed.
- No bed-availability data. The dataset does not include bed counts or current capacity — that data isn't reliably available at scale. Use 211 for real-time availability.
- Geocoded by approximate site. For DV shelters with confidential addresses, we have approximate-city coordinates rather than the actual site.
How to cite this page
For school papers and academic work. Click any citation to copy.
Citing primary sources is generally preferred to citing us. Where this article references specific studies (e.g. At Home/Chez Soi, HUD AHAR, point-in-time counts), use those sources directly in your bibliography when possible. Our Research hub links to the primary documents.