Office of Homeless Services | Homepage

What we do

The Office of Homeless Services works together with more than 60 homeless housing and service providers, as well as city, state, and federal government groups, to make up Philadelphia’s homeless service system. This system provides emergency housing and aid to people who are experiencing homelessness and those at risk of homelessness.

Homeless Services supports:

24 emergency housing facilities.
16 transitional housing programs.
5,825 long-term housing units.

Our services include:

Homelessness prevention and diversion.
Emergency, transitional, and rapid re-housing.
Case management.
Service days (clean up of encampments).
Food distribution to housing facilities and soup kitchens.

Currently, Homeless Services is developing targeted responses to youth homelessness and homelessness in shared public spaces.

Connect

Address	1401 John F. Kennedy Blvd. 10th Floor Philadelphia, PA 19102
Email	ohs-generalinfo@phila.gov
	Phone: (215) 686-7175

Looking for more information?

You can find more about the Office of Homeless Services on the City's legacy pages.

Go to Homeless Services

Leadership

Liz Hersh

Director

liz.hersh@phila.gov

Liz Hersh, director of the Office of Homeless Services is dedicated to serving poor and marginalized people, with a focus on creating affordable, decent homes where families can flourish. In her 14 years as director, she built the Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania into a national model of effective advocacy. She led the building of numerous bipartisan initiatives in Pennsylvania designed to create good housing opportunities by investing public and private funding across the Commonwealth. Under her leadership, the Housing Alliance leveraged nearly a half-billion dollars for housing, community development, and support for homeless individuals and families across Pennsylvania.

Hersh earned a master’s degree in social service administration from the University of Chicago. She serves on Pittsburgh’s Affordable Housing Task Force and the board of directors of the Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations. She served on the transition teams for Governor Rendell and Governor Wolf.

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