Community playbook

How individuals can help

Help in ways that are useful, respectful, sustainable, and safe for both you and the person you are trying to help.

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Use what you can actually sustain. Choose the parts of this guide that fit your role, resources, risk level, and community.

Quick start

Four principles to keep in mind

Find out what the person says would help most before deciding for them.

A ride, phone charge, ID fee, meal, application, or call may unlock the next step.

You can be compassionate without offering your home, unlimited money, or personal accounts.

Whenever possible, connect the person with organizations that can provide ongoing help.

Homelessness can look similar from the outside while the underlying problem is completely different.

✓Ask a simple question such as, “What would help you most today?” A person may need transportation, food, a phone charge, medication, documents, a safe place, help calling a shelter, or something else entirely.
✓Avoid promising something before you know what is being asked. It is easier to offer a clear amount or type of help than to back out after expectations have grown.
✓If the person seems overwhelmed, help narrow the problem down to the next one or two steps rather than trying to solve everything at once.
✓When practical, verify hours, availability, and eligibility before sending someone across town. Helping make the call can be more useful than handing over a list of phone numbers.

Immediate relief matters, but some forms of help can also remove barriers to housing, work, health care, or services.

✓Consider transportation to an appointment, an identification replacement fee, a low-cost phone plan, work clothing, laundry, a bus pass, document printing, or another specific obstacle.
✓If you buy food or supplies, ask what is actually usable. Someone without refrigeration, cooking equipment, storage, or transportation may not be able to use the same items a housed family would.
✓If you are comfortable doing so, pay a provider directly or purchase a specific item instead of giving more cash than you intended.
✓Support local organizations that already know the service system. Your time or money may go farther when added to an existing program than when you try to build a one-person solution.

An available shelter or service is not always an acceptable or workable option for every person.

✓People may decline shelters because of safety concerns, prior experiences, pets, partners, belongings, disability access, sobriety rules, check-in rules, trauma, transportation, or other restrictions.
✓Refusing one option does not automatically mean the person does not need help. It does mean you may need to ask what obstacle makes that option unusable.
✓You still get to decide what you can provide. If someone insists on a motel, cash, a ride to a particular place, or staying in your home and you cannot safely or reasonably do that, you can say no.
✓A useful boundary is: “I cannot do that, but I can help you call these places, buy this item, or get to this public location.”

Helping a stranger should not require ignoring ordinary safety precautions.

✓Do not invite someone you do not know into your home merely because you feel guilty, especially when children or other vulnerable family members are present.
✓Meet in public places when practical. If you provide a ride, consider whether another adult can accompany you and whether someone else knows where you are going.
✓Do not share banking credentials, passwords, account access, identification, or unrestricted access to your phone or vehicle.
✓If someone becomes threatening, aggressive, or manipulative, leave the situation. For immediate danger or a serious emergency, call 911.

One helper can become exhausted very quickly if every future emergency is directed to them.

✓Set expectations about whether your help is one-time or ongoing.
✓Encourage connections with case managers, shelters, workforce programs, health providers, churches, nonprofits, family, or other stable supports when appropriate.
✓If you continue helping, choose a role you can sustain: occasional transportation, job-search assistance, a monthly donation, volunteer hours, or another defined contribution.
✓Remember that progress may not be linear. You can care about someone without taking control of every decision they make.

Next step

Before building a new program or making a major commitment, see what already exists, what is verified, and where the gaps appear to be.