How to check if your usual shelter is actually open

You have a place in mind. The ISD rec center. The church on the feeder. The civic center that took people in during Harvey.

It might be a donation drop now. It might be locked. It might be a cooling site that closes at 7 p.m.

Check the live lists, then call the site, then go. Two out of three is not enough after a Houston flood.

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Search the site name on ReadyHarris and the City of Houston OEM list.
Call 211 and ask if that exact building is an overnight shelter tonight.
If you have a phone number for the church or rec desk, call it and ask about cots, not donations.
Have a second shelter picked before you burn the last quarter tank.

Names that fool people

“Community center” on a neighborhood Facebook post often means bottled water and clothes, not a cot. “Red Cross site” can mean a vehicle is parked there for two hours.

School gyms open and close with HISD, Spring, Cy-Fair, and Alief decisions, not with your memory of 2017.

If the only confirmation is a text from a cousin, you do not have confirmation.

What ‘open’ has to include

Open means they are still taking people tonight, they have a place for you to sleep, and they can tell you the pet rule in one sentence.

Ask about medical storage if you have insulin. Ask about quiet hours if you have a baby. Ask whether they will still be there at 2 a.m. if you get stuck on a high-water detour.

Write down the name of the person who told you yes.

Verify live. Status changes hourly. Usual shelters flip between closed, donation-only, and overnight with little notice. Recheck ReadyHarris, City of Houston OEM, Red Cross Gulf Coast, and 211 the hour you leave.

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