How to Get Help If You Are Homeless or May Lose Your Home

Where to find shelter and emergency help, what your town must do, your rights if you are facing eviction, how to apply for a housing voucher, and your children's right to stay in school.

Checked against its sources October 12, 2026.

On this page
Cite this page

This guide is written by Granite Record from the official pages it links to. Where a citation allows only one source, cite the official page for the part you rely on. The date below is the day the page was read.

MLA
“How to Get Help If You Are Homeless or May Lose Your Home.” Granite Record, https://graniterecord.org/guides/homelessness-help. Accessed 25 Oct. 2026.
APA
Granite Record. (n.d.). How to Get Help If You Are Homeless or May Lose Your Home. Retrieved 25 Oct. 2026, from https://graniterecord.org/guides/homelessness-help
Chicago
Granite Record. “How to Get Help If You Are Homeless or May Lose Your Home.” Accessed 25 Oct. 2026. https://graniterecord.org/guides/homelessness-help.
BibTeX
@misc{guides-homelessness-help, title = {How to Get Help If You Are Homeless or May Lose Your Home}, howpublished = {Granite Record}, url = {https://graniterecord.org/guides/homelessness-help}, note = {Accessed 25 Oct. 2026} }

At a Glance

Call 2-1-1, at any hour, to find shelter and housing help near you, or go to your town or city welfare office, which must help a person there who is poor and unable to support themselves. If you are facing eviction, your landlord can only make you leave through the court, and free mediation and free legal aid can help. If you are leaving someone who hurts you, call 1-866-644-3574.

  1. Call 2-1-1, at any hour, for shelter and housing help near you.

  2. What is happening?

    • You have nowhere to stayCall 2-1-1 for a shelter, and ask your town or city welfare office for help.
    • You may be evictedOnly a court can make you leave. Answer the court papers, and get free legal help.
  3. Apply for a housing voucher, and ask your school’s homeless liaison to keep your children in school.

Step by Step

  1. Call 2-1-1, or your town’s welfare office

    2-1-1 New Hampshire connects you with shelter, housing, food, utility and other help where you are, 24 hours a day, every day of the year, by phone, email or text. Dial 2-1-1, or call 1-866-444-4211. In an emergency, call 911; in a mental health crisis, call 988.

    Your town or city welfare office must help a person who is poor and unable to support themselves, under the written guidelines every town and city adopts: how to apply, who is eligible, and how to appeal a decision. If you are only staying in a town for now, it must still give you the temporary help that is reasonable and necessary. If you are asked to prove where you live and have no lease or bill, a signed statement from the welfare official, a police or fire official, an emergency medical provider or a social services provider who knows you counts.

    2-1-1 New Hampshire

    The law: RSA 165:1, RSA 165:1-c

  2. Find a shelter

    The Department of Health and Human Services’ Bureau of Homeless Services funds shelters and other homeless services through local agencies in all ten counties. To find a bed, call 2-1-1 or your town’s welfare office. Your local Community Action Program can help too.

    If you are leaving someone who hurts you, the crisis centers run emergency shelters: call 1-866-644-3574, at any hour.

    Homeless services (Department of Health and Human Services)

  3. If you may be evicted

    Only a court can make you leave. A landlord may not lock you out or shut off your heat, water, electricity or other utilities to force you out.

    • Before any court case, you and your landlord can use the court’s free Eviction Diversion Program, where a mediator helps you try to reach an agreement. Taking part is your choice, and you give up no rights.
    • If you are served court papers (a Landlord/Tenant Writ), file an Appearance form with the court by the return date on the writ to be heard. The return date is not the hearing; the trial is usually about 10 days after you file. If you do not file, or do not come to the hearing, the court issues a Notice of Default, and no sooner than 5 business days later it can issue a Writ of Possession, which lets the landlord take back the home.
    • If the case is only about unpaid rent, it is dismissed if, before the hearing, you pay all the rent you owe, $15, and the landlord’s filing and service costs. You can do this up to 3 times in a 12-month period.
    • If you lose, you have 7 days from the Notice of Judgment to file a Notice of Intent to Appeal, and you will have to pay rent each week while the appeal goes on.

    Get free legal help as early as you can, from 603 Legal Aid or New Hampshire Legal Assistance.

    Landlord and tenant cases (Judicial Branch)

    The law: RSA 540-A:3, RSA 540:9

  4. Apply for a housing voucher

    With a Housing Choice Voucher, you pay part of your income toward rent and utilities and New Hampshire Housing pays the rest to the landlord. You choose the place, which must meet housing quality standards. It is for households with very low incomes; New Hampshire Housing’s page gives the limits.

    The wait is long, 7 to 9 years for most applicants, but New Hampshire Housing encourages anyone struggling to pay rent to apply and to mark every preference that fits their household on the application. Apply online, or call 1-800-439-7247 to have an application mailed. Some towns have their own housing authority with its own programs: ask your town.

    Apply for a voucher (New Hampshire Housing)Resources for renters (New Hampshire Housing)

  5. Keep your children in school

    Under the federal McKinney-Vento Act, a child or youth without a fixed home can stay in their school of origin, the school they went to before, where that is in their best interest, or go to the local school where they are staying now. The school must enroll them right away, even without school or health records, proof of residency or other documents, and must provide or arrange transportation to the school of origin.

    Every school district has a homeless liaison whose job is to make sure this happens. The Department of Education lists every liaison in the state, with information on the rights of parents and of young people on their own.

    Homeless children and youth (Department of Education)

Who Can Help

2-1-1 New Hampshire, at any hour, and your town or city welfare office are the places to start. For a housing voucher, call New Hampshire Housing at (603) 472-8623. For help with an eviction or a denial of town assistance:

  • Free civil legal aid. New Hampshire Legal Assistance helps people with low income and limited assets, and adults 60 and over, mainly with housing (eviction, foreclosure and property tax deeding), domestic violence and family law, and public benefits. Apply through 603 Legal Aid, online or at 1-800-639-5290; it also publishes self-help articles.

603 Legal Aid

In the Record

Chapter 165: Aid to Assisted Persons

Laws that changed it since 2020, newest first:

Chapter 540: Actions Against Tenants

Bills now before the General Court that would change it:

Laws that changed it since 2020, newest first:

Chapter 540-A: Prohibited Practices and Security Deposits

Laws that changed it since 2020, newest first:

See Also

Where This Comes From