Homeless Shelter Directory

What Homeless Shelter Directory does

Homeless Shelter Directory is a privately held, US-focused online directory founded in 2006 that lists homeless shelters and related social services. As of the latest data, it indexes 14,631 homeless shelters and social service organizations and 17,045 food pantries and soup kitchens across all 50 states plus Washington DC, organized for browsing and search by state, city, and county. Each listing includes contact information, services offered, and last update dates, with new and updated shelters surfacing on a "Latest Listings" feed; representative listed operators include VOA Family of Services (Brooklyn, NY), Safe Families for Children (Orlando, FL), Rescue Us Mission Transitional Home (Sugar Land, TX), YWCA Emergency Shelter (Harrisburg, PA), and Robbin's House Outreach Ministry (Brooksville, FL).

The platform is built as a self-serve, product-led web directory rather than a sales-driven service. Listings are community-maintained: shelters and other organizations can add themselves via a self-service form, and users contribute updates that improve data accuracy. The organization explicitly states it is not affiliated with any government agency. There is no mobile app, no public API, and no disclosed integrations; the technology stack appears to be a standard CMS-driven website with state and city navigation. Distribution is almost entirely organic, driven by SEO for high-intent queries such as "homeless shelters in [city]" and reciprocal resource links to affiliated directories covering rent assistance, public housing, free dental care, and free rehab centers.

The business model is freemium in form but effectively free at point of use: there are no paid tiers, no subscription pricing, and no disclosed advertising or lead-generation monetization in the source materials. No revenue, headcount, funding, or ownership data is publicly disclosed. The organization operates as an independent, privately held entity with no venture capital, private equity, or institutional investor involvement indicated, and it has been continuously operating under the same brand since 2006.

Name

Homeless Shelter Directory

Legal name

Homeless Shelter Directory

Website

https://homelessshelterdirectory.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2006

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Homeless Shelter Directory is a privately held, US-focused online directory founded in 2006 that lists 14,631 homeless shelters and 17,045 food pantries across all 50 states plus DC. It serves people experiencing homelessness, volunteers, and donors seeking free, location-based access to emergency shelter and social services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Social Services Directory

NAICS

Temporary Shelters (624221), Community Housing Services (62422), Community Food Services (62421)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Homelessness Prevention, Shelter & Supportive Housing Services (BPAIANAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Housing Assistance & Homeless Services (BPAGAEAB), Emergency Shelter, NFIs & Winterization for Displaced Populations (BPADAHAG)

Keywords

• Homeless shelter directory
• Social services directory
• Food pantry listings
• Emergency shelter search
• Community resource database

Headquarters

HQ city

Fort Collins

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Directory Access (Free to Users): The directory is free to use for people seeking shelter and services. Revenue generation is not explicitly disclosed in the source materials.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

The Homeless Shelter Directory is a free, web-based searchable directory that lists 14,631 homeless shelters and social service organizations across all 50 U.S. states plus Washington, D.C. Users can search by state, city, or county to find contact information, services offered, and volunteer opportunities at local shelters. A companion directory lists 17,045 food pantries and soup kitchens, and the site links out to partner resources for rent assistance and affordable housing.

Product overview

Homeless Shelter Directory operates as a single unified directory product offering comprehensive listings of homeless shelters (14,631 entries) and related social services across the United States. The platform is organized by state and city, with companion resources including a Food Pantries and Soup Kitchens directory (17,045 listings), plus links to external resources for rent assistance and affordable housing. The service is free for users seeking shelter and assistance, and is maintained by community contributions with no government affiliation.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Homeless Shelter Directory A searchable online directory of 14,631 homeless shelters and social service organizations across the United States, enabling users to find shelters by state, city, or county with contact details, service descriptions, and volunteer/donation information. It is intended for individuals and families experiencing homelessness, as well as volunteers and donors.
• Soup Kitchens and Food Pantries Directory A companion directory of 17,045 food pantries and soup kitchens nationwide, accessible from the main shelter directory, that provides location-based food assistance listings for individuals and families in need.

Named customers5 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered minor.

• Rent Assistance Programs (rentassistance.us)minorOthersLinked resource partner providing access to rent assistance programs and Section 8 rental property information
• Affordable Housing (publichousing.com)minorOthersLinked resource partner providing access to public housing and affordable housing options
• Free Dental Care Clinics (freedentalcare.us)minorOthersLinked resource partner on state pages for free and low-cost dental care
• Free Rehab Centers (freerehabcenters.us)minorOthersLinked resource partner on state pages for free and low-cost drug rehab and alcohol detox treatment centers

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights2 records

Direct peers

• FoodPantries.org: Standalone online directory of food pantries, soup kitchens, and meal programs searchable by state and city. Closely comparable to Homeless Shelter Directory's companion 17,045-listing food pantry directory and competes for the same volunteer/donor and food-insecure user traffic.
• Findhelp (formerly Aunt Bertha): National social-care network connecting people with programs for housing, food, transit, and other assistance. Directly competes with Homeless Shelter Directory by aggregating a searchable resource directory for people in need, with similar self-serve listings and free access.
• ShelterList.com: Online listing of homeless shelters across the U.S., searchable by state. Directly comparable as a focused shelter-listing directory serving the same primary user need.
• NeedHelpPayingBills.com: Directory of assistance programs including rent help, utility assistance, and housing resources searchable by state and city. Closely comparable to the rent-assistance and affordable-housing linked resources within Homeless Shelter Directory.
• HUD Resource Locator: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's official search tool for shelters, affordable housing, and homelessness resources. Competes on the exact same use case - finding shelter and housing help - from an authoritative government source.
• 211.org: Free, confidential service funded by United Ways and operated by local call centers to connect callers to local resources including housing, shelter, and food assistance. Directly comparable as a national resource directory serving the same persona in the same category.

Others

• Charity Navigator: Large nonprofit evaluator and directory where donors and volunteers search vetted charities, including homeless and housing organizations. Adjacent rather than directly competitive, but it overlaps in audience (donors, volunteers) and category (homeless/social services).
• RentAssistance.us: Directory specifically for rent help programs and Section 8 rental property listings, already linked from Homeless Shelter Directory as a resource partner. Comparable as a state-by-state directory serving the same persona in the same vertical.

Broad incumbents

• Salvation Army Locator: National nonprofit operating shelters and social services with a locator tool for local Corps and programs. Comparable as a large, established social-services provider whose shelter offerings appear in third-party directories like Homeless Shelter Directory.

Emerging players

• PublicHousing.com: Search engine for public housing and affordable housing options, already linked from Homeless Shelter Directory. Overlaps with the directory's affordable-housing resource extension and targets the same low-income housing-seeker persona.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/profile.php
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/homless-shelter

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Homeless Shelter Directory