Help for tomorrow
We are not open yet, and even when we are, we will have eleven beds. The people below are open now. State, county, city, VA, and the nonprofits who keep veterans housed in El Paso County, crisis lines first. Every number was called up on the agency's own page on November 2, 2026. On a phone, tap a number to call it.
Free, confidential, and answered twenty four hours a day. Any discharge. You do not have to be enrolled in VA care, and you do not have to be suicidal, to call.
Call if you are in crisis, thinking about suicide, or worried about a veteran you know.
Call if you are sleeping outside, in a vehicle, or about to lose your housing and you want the VA to help.
Call or text if you are in a mental health or substance use crisis anywhere in Colorado.
Call if you want to talk with another combat veteran, any hour, about what is going on.
Call if someone is hurting, threatening, or stalking you, or you were sexually assaulted, and you need a safe place or a plan.
Call or text if someone is hurting or controlling you and you want to talk with an advocate.
Call if you need police help and it is not an emergency. In an emergency, call 911.
If you are behind on rent or lot rent, living in an RV or on a couch, or your notice to vacate just came, these are the people who keep veterans housed. Call before the sheriff does.
Call if you are about to lose your home, or just lost it, and need rent, deposits, utility help, or a case manager to get you housed fast.
Email or fill out the inquiry form if you are out of work and homeless or at risk of it, including if you are justice involved.
Call or stop by if you or your family need help with rent, food, money, a job, or counseling, all under one roof.
Call if you need emergency financial help or someone to walk you to the right services.
Call if you are facing eviction or foreclosure, need rent help, or have a landlord problem.
Call or go in if you have an eviction case and need rent help or a lawyer.
Call or apply in person if you have an eviction hearing and cannot afford a lawyer.
An Other Than Honorable discharge does not close SSVF or the employment program. Only a dishonorable discharge does. The VA decides OTH cases one at a time through a character of discharge review, and since 2018 many veterans with an OTH have been able to get VA mental health care, including anyone who experienced military sexual trauma. Ask. Do not assume the answer is no.
Living in a vehicle or an RV with nowhere lawful to park it counts as homeless under the federal definition, so SSVF can work with it. Lot rent that is behind is the prevention side of the same program.
Every federally funded housing program in El Paso County, including ours, works from one list. You get on it by doing a short housing assessment at any of these places. Do it once and it follows you.
Call or walk in if you are a veteran without housing and want HUD VASH, a housing assessment, or VA homeless services. Start here if you can.
Call or walk in if you are without housing or about to be and want help getting housed.
Call to do the housing assessment at Mt. Carmel.
Call and leave a message to set up a housing assessment with VOA.
Walk in on a Monday afternoon for the housing survey, or call about Housing First apartments for veterans with disabilities.
Call if you are a veteran without housing and need a place to stay while you work toward your own.
Call if you want to know how the housing list works or where else you can do the assessment.
Call if you want to ask about public housing or Section 8. Waiting lists are closed as of this writing, so start with the VA program above for HUD VASH.
Local VA doors, then the national VA lines. If a local number rings busy, the national line can route you.
Call if you need a VA doctor, medicine, or mental health care in Colorado Springs.
Call if you want free, private counseling for stress, PTSD, grief, or military sexual trauma. You do not need to be in VA health care, any discharge.
Walk in if you need help with a disability claim, pension, education, or a home loan.
Call if you have a problem with your VA care that your care team did not fix.
Ask for the VJO specialist if you are in jail, in court, or on probation and need the VA involved.
Go here if you are in Denver without housing and want a VA walk in center for housing, health, and benefits.
Call if you want to sign up for VA health care or find out if you qualify. You can apply by phone.
Call if you have questions about disability pay, pension, or any VA benefit.
Call if you take care of a veteran and need support or the caregiver program.
Read this if you want to know what HUD VASH, SSVF, Grant and Per Diem, and VA legal help are before you call.
Call or email if you want free help filing a VA claim or getting state and federal veteran benefits.
Call or go in if you need SNAP food benefits, Medicaid, cash help, or child care help.
Call 211 if you are not sure where to start. They know every program in the county.
Call if you are living outside in the city and want an outreach officer to connect you to shelter and services. Not for reporting crimes.
Check here when it is dangerously cold to see which shelters are open tonight and where the ride is.
Call or go in if you want help finding a job or training. Veterans are served first.
Call if you are a veteran facing charges tied to PTSD, TBI, or substance use and want treatment instead of jail.
Call if you have a question about Colorado state veteran benefits. They will point you to the county office above for in person help.
Call, text, or search online for shelter, food, rent help, or health care anywhere in Colorado.
Call or walk in if you have a civil legal problem, eviction, a benefits denial, a protection order, and cannot afford a lawyer.
Call if you moved to get away from an abuser or stalker and want a free substitute address so they cannot find you.
Apply if you get SNAP, Medicaid, or SSI, or have low income, and want money off your phone or internet bill.
Everything above is yours too. These are the doors built for you, so they are listed twice on purpose.
Call or text if you are a woman veteran and want help with VA health care, benefits, or housing. They connect you to the local women's program.
Call if you want VA care made for women, primary care, gynecology, maternity, mental health, or MST recovery.
Call if you were sexually assaulted or harassed while serving and want free, private VA care for it. No disability rating needed. Any discharge, enrolled or not.
Call if you want MST counseling outside a VA hospital. Any veteran, any era, any discharge. Male and female counselors.
Call if you want a safety plan, counseling, housing help, or help getting a protection order. Walk in legal advocacy Monday to Thursday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Call or text any hour if you were sexually assaulted, recently or long ago, and want to talk with someone.
Call or text any hour if you are Native American or Alaska Native and someone is abusing you.
Call if you are still serving, in the Guard or Reserve, or in your transition window, and were sexually assaulted. Veterans already out use the MST coordinator or RAINN above.
Call or walk in if you need help with the papers for a protection order and do not have a lawyer. No filing fee in abuse, assault, or stalking cases.
Apply online if you are a woman veteran who is without housing, about to be, or behind on rent or utilities. National, serves any location.
Call if you are a woman veteran with an urgent need like safe housing or food. National.
Make an appointment if you are a woman without insurance and need free medical or mental health care.
Call if you and your children under 18 have nowhere to sleep tonight. Call first to check for a room.
Call or apply online if your family with children just lost housing or is about to.
Call if you have children and want a family navigator, case manager, and help staying housed.
Call if you are a single mother with young children, without housing or leaving abuse, and want long term housing with support.
Call if you are a parent or pregnant, without housing or about to be, and want a year of transitional housing with job and budget help.
Call or apply online if you need help paying for child care so you can work or look for work.
Call if you are 15 to 24 and need a drop in center, a shelter bed, or help getting housed.
Go here if you need a bed tonight, three meals a day, a shower, or a way off the street. Doors open 24 hours. Dogs and cats welcome.
Go here for a free hot lunch every day, a permanent mailing address, or a case manager who knows every shelter in town.
Go here for the Wednesday food pantry, a five dollar hot meal weekdays, or basic needs help.
Use the online map to find a food pantry or mobile distribution near you, or call the SNAP line to apply by phone.
Call if you live in El Paso County and need help with rent, utilities, medical bills, a bus pass, clothing, or food.
Go here if you are in Monument, Palmer Lake, or northern El Paso County and need food, rent or utility help, or bus passes.
Call if you are an older veteran and need food, delivered meals, rides to appointments, or housing help.
Call if you are looking for an affordable apartment and want to ask about openings. Not a shelter.
Call or go here if you need a safe place to detox from alcohol or drugs, any hour.
Call or walk in if you want counseling, psychiatric care, or outpatient addiction treatment without waiting weeks.
Call if you want a free peer recovery coach or a support group run by people in recovery themselves.
Call if you need a doctor, dentist, or counselor and have little or no insurance. Sliding fee.
Call if you are 18 or older, uninsured or low income, and need to see a doctor for free. Appointment required.
Call if you or a family member need help finding treatment for drugs, alcohol, or mental health. Free referrals, English and Spanish.
Call for shots, public health services, or a Colorado birth certificate.
Most doors above open faster with a DD 214 and a photo ID. If you lost them, start here. If you have nothing, go anyway and say so.
Request your DD 214 here if you need proof of service. Free for most veterans. Online is fastest.
Read this if your discharge was Other Than Honorable. You may still get VA mental health care, MST care, Vet Center counseling, and a review of your discharge.
Go here for a Colorado ID card. Make an appointment first.
Call for a replacement Social Security card or help with SSI or SSDI.
Go here if you were born in Colorado and need a birth certificate. Bring a photo ID.
Order online if you were born elsewhere in Colorado.
Call if you need a free or low cost lawyer for a civil problem, or want free legal advice by phone on a Wednesday night.
Go here for free legal advice for veterans at the VA clinic, once a month.
Go here if you have a court case and need help with the forms. Staff cannot give legal advice.
Call if you can pay a small fee and want a private lawyer for a first meeting. Up to $100 for the first half hour.
Call for bus routes and fares. One ride is $1.75. Reduced fare for riders with disabilities and seniors.
Go here if you have a disability or a VA rating of 50 percent or more and want the half fare bus card. Bring your VA letter and an ID.
Call for low cost vaccines or help keeping your pet. For pet food they send you to Colorado Pet Pantry and Harley's Hope.
If you have worked this list and still need help for your situation, give us a call at (719) 428-6710 or write to help@secondwatchvh.org, and we will see what we can do for you. A person answers, and if we are not the right fit we will say so and point you somewhere that is. If you are not ready for a lease of your own, but are ready for a bed of your own, here is how you get in.
If a number on this page is wrong or dead, tell us. Email help@secondwatchvh.org or call (719) 428-6710, and we fix it the same day. A wrong number on a page like this costs someone a night.
Every number on this page was verified on the agency's own website on November 2, 2026. We recheck the whole page every three months and after any report.
