Help in Tempe
Somewhere to sleep, something to eat, someone to call. Tap any number to call it.
Free help in Tempe, Arizona: shelter, food, medical care and 24-hour crisis lines.
Crisis lines, 24 hours
CARE-7 (Tempe 24-hour crisis team)
Tempe’s own crisis team, any hour.
Domestic violence hotline
Support and safe housing for survivors.
480-890-3039(or 1-844-SAFEDVS)
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
I-HELP Emergency Shelter (TCAA)
Overnight sleeping space, evening meals, showers and laundry for adults 18 and over. Call the hotline to schedule intake.
480-422-8922(extension 5882)Sue’s Espacio (City of Tempe Bridge Shelter)
City-operated bridge shelter on Apache Blvd, offering rooms, laundry and hot meals.
Oasis Center (TCAA)
Drop-in center for unsheltered adults, offering social services, ID recovery, employment help and Circle the City medical care.
Family Housing Hub and Central Intake
Families with children call the first number. Adults without children call the central intake line.
602-595-8700(adults without children: 602-759-5356)
Food and basic needs
TCAA Food Pantry
Emergency food boxes, up to twice a month.
To-Go Bags (TCAA)
Ready-to-eat food for unsheltered individuals, with no kitchen required. Available at TCAA’s Esquer and Ramsey Center.
Medical and behavioral health
Community Health Center
Affordable medical and dental care.
Circle the City
Mobile medical services for people experiencing homelessness.
Getting around
Valley Metro light rail and bus
The Smith-Martin/Apache Blvd and Price-101 Fwy/Apache Blvd light rail stops serve TCAA directly. Bus routes connect riders across Tempe.
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.
The folded pamphlet, for a print shop or a good printer. It is a large download and hard to read on a phone.
About this list
City of Tempe 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. Transcribed from the printed Tempe trifold that Beanchain Coffee wrote and hands out.
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/tempe.
Scan for this list on your phone, where every number dials with one tap: pifboard.com/resources/tempe
Free meals, already paid for: pifboard.com/get-a-meal
Numbers checked on August 5, 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.