Metro Shelter Hotline Collaboration

TCCVM's Collaboration with MESH
Twin Cities Community Voice Mail cannot offer housing. But it can make information about emergency and transitional housing for both adults and youth more easily accessible. Easing access to safe places to sleep is a logical extension of TCCVM's mission.

In collaboration with Metro-wide Engagement for Shelter and Housing (MESH), a new agency to assist in meeting the needs of homeless people, TCCVM utilizes its communications network to provide a hotline offering information about metro area emergency shelters and transitional housing programs.

The Metro Shelter Hotline operates through a toll-free number, 1-888-234-1329, to link homeless callers to shelter information, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Callers will then access specific information about shelter and transitional housing programs in the counties from which they are calling. The hotline helps ensure that up-to-date information is available to homeless persons quickly and easily.

People seeking shelter no longer have to plunk quarters in pay phones as they hunt for places to sleep. The toll-free telephone number is available through the assistance of Minnesota Department of Children, Families and Learning. The Metro Shelter Hotline gives information on specific admission requirements and where and how to receive pre-approval in their county. This helps the homeless avoid multiple phone calls--and the hotline is available even during evening hours when regular offices are closed.

Funding for the Metro Shelter Hotline comes from the Minnesota Department of Children, Families and Learning and the Wells Fargo Foundation Minnesota.

Future Expansion for MESH
Plans are underway to distribute hotline information through agencies serving this those struggling with homelessness, both directly and through police officers in the metro area. Police officers often are the first contact homeless people have with government services. Having information about the hotline would aid officers in their efforts to assist homeless persons needing shelter on cold nights. Other plans include posters available at public places frequented by the homeless.