Emergency Shelter for Families with Children in Phoenix: One Call Starts Everything

By Common Ladder · August 30, 2026 · 7 min read

If your family has children under 18 and you are losing your housing — or have already lost it — the family system in Maricopa County works differently than the single-adult system, and knowing the difference saves you days of driving to doors that cannot let you in. There is no walk-up family shelter in Phoenix. Every family shelter bed in the county fills through one shared front door, the Family Housing Hub, and you reach it with one free phone call: dial 2-1-1. That call can be made from anywhere — a friend’s couch, a car, a library — and you do not need to visit an office unless they tell you to.

The one call that starts everything

Call 2-1-1 (or 877-211-8661) and say your family needs help with housing or shelter. Phone screening for families is available 7 days a week, 9 a.m.–7 p.m. It is free, and there is no cost to be added to the shelter waitlist. Before you dial, set yourself up so one call is enough:

• Every adult in your household who needs shelter must be on the call and take part in the screening — put the phone on speaker.
• Have the names and ages of everyone in your family ready.
• Be ready to say where you are staying tonight and whether it is safe. Answer honestly — families with nowhere safe to sleep are treated as the highest need.

The specialist will first look for the fastest safe way out of your crisis — sometimes one-time help keeps you where you are or lands you with family — and connects you to food, work, and utility help the same day even when no shelter spot is open.

If you cannot call, or were told to come in person

Most families never need to show up anywhere. But if 2-1-1 directs you to a coordinated entry site, or a phone is the thing you don’t have, these access points do the same screening:

• Mesa — Family Housing Hub at MesaCAN — 635 E. Broadway Rd., Mesa, AZ 85204. Walk-in hours: Tuesday, 9 a.m.–3 p.m. Arrive before closing to be seen that day.
• Chandler — Neighborhood Resources Department — 235 S. Arizona Ave., Chandler, AZ 85225 — (480) 782-4349, Monday–Friday, 8 a.m.–5 p.m.
• Tempe — Care Hope Line — (480) 350-8004 connects Tempe residents to the city’s mobile outreach team.
• Phoenix — Phoenix Rescue Mission Mobile Outreach — (602) 346-3361. This is a message line: leave a voicemail and a case manager calls back, in English or Spanish. The team comes to you and can do coordinated entry in the field.
• Veteran families — UMOM Supportive Services for Veteran Families, (602) 466-1655, or visit the Community Resource & Referral Center, 1500 E. Thomas Rd., Phoenix, AZ 85014 — Monday 9 a.m.–noon, Thursday noon–3 p.m.

If you are not safe at home

If you or your children are in danger right now, call 911. If you are leaving violence, the National Domestic Violence Hotline — 1-800-799-7233, 24/7 — and ArizonaSurvivors.org (current DV shelter openings across Maricopa County) are separate, confidential doors into shelter that do not require the Hub screening. For a mental-health crisis, the statewide line is 1-844-534-HOPE (4673), or call or text 988.

What happens after you call

It is a process, not a single yes or no. There is a waitlist, and it is ordered by need, not by date — calling more often does not move you up. What does matter: keep your phone on and answer unknown numbers, because a shelter with an open spot will call you directly, and if you are unreachable for a while your spot can pause. If your situation changes — it gets less safe, or you find a temporary landing — call 2-1-1 and say so; it takes one call to update or reactivate your file.

The shelters themselves

The family shelters — UMOM New Day Centers (3333 E. Van Buren St., Phoenix, (602) 275-7852), CASS Vista Colina, the Salvation Army Phoenix Emergency Shelter, and St. Vincent de Paul — all fill from the Hub’s referrals. Showing up at their doors will not get you a bed faster; the screening call will. Once a family is placed at UMOM, the campus includes meals seven days a week, one-on-one case management, employment help, an on-site Boys & Girls Club, and a children’s health clinic run by Phoenix Children’s.

Your kids can stay in their school

Federal law (McKinney-Vento) gives children experiencing homelessness — including families doubled up with relatives or staying in motels — the right to stay in the school they already attend, with transportation, even if you are now sleeping across the county. Call your child’s school district and ask for the homeless liaison; every district is required to have one, and enrollment cannot be delayed for missing paperwork.

Verify before you go / call ahead. Hours and access points change — the Mesa walk-in day especially. Call 2-1-1 first; it is the fastest, most current door into every family service in the county. If any number on this page is out of service, dial 211 for a current referral.

Have a correction or an update? Contact us — we verify and update this information when changes are reported.