Help in Phoenix
Somewhere to sleep, something to eat, someone to call. Tap any number to call it.
Free help in Phoenix, Arizona: shelter, food, medical care and 24-hour crisis lines.
Crisis lines, 24 hours
Crisis Response Network
Mental health crisis support, any hour.
988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline
Call or text 988 for free, confidential help in a mental health or suicide crisis.
Help finding services
211 Arizona
Dial 211 for information and referrals to community resources and essential needs.
211(9am to 7pm every day, in English and Spanish)
Emergency shelter and housing
Central Arizona Shelter Services (CASS)
Emergency shelter placement and support services for adults 18 and over. Intake starts with a prescreen, so call before walking over.
Keys to Change Key Campus
The block beside CASS, where shelter intake, meals, showers, mail, storage, ID help, dental care and homeless court all sit together. The Brian Garcia Welcome Center is the way in, and it is open around the clock.
Family Housing Hub
Shelter placement for families with children, arranged over the phone. You do not need to drive to an office unless they tell you to.
602-595-8700(or dial 211 from anywhere)PHX C.A.R.E.S.
The city’s own outreach team. Call to ask for help, or to ask them to go and find somebody who needs it. Monday to Saturday, 8am to 5pm.
Food and basic needs
St. Mary’s Food Bank
Emergency food boxes, and a finder for the 700 partner sites across Arizona so you can pick the closest one.
André House
Dinner most evenings, plus showers, laundry, clothing and phone calls. Each service runs at its own time, so check the hours before making the walk.
Cooling and hydration centers
The county Heat Relief Network map lists more than 200 free cooled rooms, respite sites and water stations from May to September. Every site sets its own hours, so check the map before you set off.
Homeless ID Project
Free replacement ID cards, driver’s licenses and birth certificates, and somewhere safe to keep documents so they cannot be stolen or lost. They can start the paperwork even if you have nothing on you.
Medical and behavioral health
Circle the City Downtown Family Health Center
Medical care built around people who are living outside, including the only medical respite beds in Arizona for recovering after a hospital stay.
Brighter Way Dental Center
Free and low-cost dental care, including extractions and dentures, for people who are unhoused, veterans, and survivors of domestic violence.
Community Bridges, Inc. (CBI)
Mental health and substance use services.
877-931-9142(Access to Care Line, 24 hours)
Veterans
VA Phoenix Health Care System
Help for veterans who are homeless, or close to it through financial hardship, unemployment, addiction, depression, or leaving jail.
National Call Center for Homeless Veterans
Free and confidential, any hour, for veterans and for the people who are worried about one.
Youth, ages 12 to 24
Safe Place
Text SAFE and your address to 44357, or call. Safe Place sites include QuikTrip stores, libraries, fire stations, transit stops and other local businesses across the valley.
Tumbleweed Center for Youth Development
Shelter, drop-in support and transitional housing for young people aged 12 to 24 across Maricopa County.
one·n·ten
Housing help, a drop-in center and support groups for LGBTQ+ young people aged 14 to 24.
Survivors of domestic violence
SAFEDVS (A New Leaf)
Safe Access For Expedited Domestic Violence Services. A 24-hour crisis line, with live chat on the A New Leaf website if a call is not safe to make.
480-890-3039(or 1-844-SAFEDVS)National Domestic Violence Hotline
Confidential support and safety planning, any hour, from anywhere in the country.
Getting around
Valley Metro light rail and bus
The light rail runs through downtown and past the 12th Avenue campus, and bus routes cover the rest of the city. Both are air conditioned, which makes a fare a cheap hour out of the sun.
Surviving an Arizona summer outside
The heat here kills people. This matters most from May to September.
- Get out of the heat between 10am and 4pm
- That is the dangerous stretch. Cooling centers, libraries and shelters are all air conditioned and free to sit in. If you have to be outside, stay in shade and rest rather than walking through it.
- Drink more water than you think you need
- Shelters, churches and outreach groups hand out bottled water all summer, and public parks and community centers have drinking fountains. Dehydration is what turns a hot day into a hospital visit.
- Know what heat exhaustion feels like
- Heavy sweating, dizziness, nausea, headache, weakness. Get somewhere cool and drink water immediately. If someone is confused, very hot, or faints, that is heatstroke and it needs an ambulance now.
- Keep your skin covered
- Loose, light-colored clothing keeps you cooler than bare skin in the sun, and sunscreen helps if you can get some. Outreach teams often have both.
- Buses are air conditioned
- Valley Metro fares are low and some programs offer free or discounted rides to cooling centers and shelters. A bus ride is a cheap hour out of the sun.
- Keep a phone charged if you have one
- Some organizations have charging stations. A charged phone is how you find out which shelter has a bed tonight.
Free meals from Pay It Forward
People in the community pay for meals in advance, and you collect one at a local restaurant partner. No ID, no paperwork and no questions about need. Reserving a meal online needs a free account with an email address.
Hand this list out
For a counter, an outreach bag or a meal pickup order. The handout fits on letter paper and has a QR code back to this page, where the numbers stay current. There is no printed trifold for Phoenix yet, so the handout is the printable version.
About this list
City of Phoenix Office of Homeless Solutions keeps the fullest list, and it outlasts anything we publish.
Checked on . That is the date these numbers were last rung, not the date this page was edited. Gathered by Beanchain Coffee from what the organizations and Maricopa County publish. There is no printed trifold for Phoenix yet.
If a number here is wrong, or a program has closed, tell us so the next person does not waste the trip.
Lists researched and checked by Beanchain Coffee in Mesa, the coffee shop where Pay It Forward started. Their copy is at bchain.coffee/unhousedhelp/phoenix.
Scan for this list on your phone, where every number dials with one tap: pifboard.com/resources/phoenix
Free meals, already paid for: pifboard.com/get-a-meal
Numbers checked on August 10, 2026 by Beanchain Coffee in Mesa. Anywhere in Arizona, dial 211. In an emergency, call 911.
Pay It Forward is a program of the Foundation for Innovation in Society, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.