Mobile health clinics and street medicine teams provide medical, behavioral, and social services—free of charge or at low cost—directly to people experiencing homelessness within their own communities. By traveling to encampments, shelters, and transit hubs, these clinics on wheels eliminate significant barriers to accessing care, such as a lack of transportation, the absence of health insurance, and mistrust of institutions.
Services Provided by Mobile Healthcare Clinics
Mobile clinics range from standard passenger vans to large medical trucks featuring multiple rooms. They typically offer:
Primary medical care: Health assessments, routine check-ups, standard lab tests, and urgent wound care.
Medications and pharmacy: Onboard prescription services, free over-the-counter medications, and on-site medication-assisted treatment (MAT).
Behavioral health: On-site mental health assessments, trauma-informed crisis counseling, and referrals to psychiatric services.
Harm reduction services: Direct access to vital supplies such as naloxone (Narcan), clean syringes, and hygiene kits.
Social support and advocacy: Direct assistance with enrolling in public benefit programs, obtaining replacement birth certificates or identification documents, and securing housing vouchers.
Mobile Units vs. Street Medicine: Structural Overview
Although closely related, programs typically use two formats to reach people:
Mobile Medical Units (MMUs): Large recreational vehicles (RVs) or specialized trucks equipped with functional exam rooms, electricity, and refrigeration systems. They offer more complex clinical care, diagnostic testing, and dental chairs, but require designated parking areas.
Street medicine teams: Sprinter-style vans (smaller and more agile) or medical teams that travel on foot carrying supplies in backpacks. They perform immediate triage, monitor vital signs, and treat wounds directly in encampments and hard-to-reach outdoor locations.
Find Mobile Healthcare Clinics Near You
To locate a mobile medical clinic or street medicine team, you can use specialized federal search tools, local community helplines, and databases from national non-profit organizations that track the locations of specialized medical vehicles. Because these units operate on a schedule rather than remaining at a fixed site, the tools below are designed to identify their current schedules, routes, and regional coverage areas.
1. Use federal and specialized search directories
HRSA Health Center Locator
To search specifically for mobile units, you can download the complete database of all federally funded clinical centers directly from the HRSA Data Explorer or use HRSA’s interactive “Find a Health Center” map tool to filter for vehicles using specific keywords. Since HRSA tracks over 16,200 distinct service sites, filtering for mobile configurations allows you to obtain accurate contact information.
How to identify mobile units in the HRSA tool
When using the “Find a Health Center” map tool, mobile clinics will always appear linked directly to a permanent main health center—specifically an FQHC (Federally Qualified Health Center).
Step 1: Enter the zip code, city, or state of interest into the location field of the HRSA Data Warehouse.
Step 2: Review the results sidebar. Use your browser’s text search function (Ctrl + F or Cmd + F) to locate phrases such as “Mobile Medical Unit,” “Mobile Unit,” or “Mobile Clinic.”
Step 3: Note the name of the parent clinic managing the unit (e.g., the New Horizon Family Health Services Mobile Medical Team).
Step 4: Click on the center’s profile to obtain the direct administrative phone number. You must call the center to request its current schedule for street-based services, as the mobile unit travels to different locations each day.
Download the complete national spreadsheet of mobile centers
If you are an organizer, researcher, or rights advocate who needs the full list of all active HRSA-funded mobile medical units nationwide, you can obtain the raw data directly from the HRSA Data Warehouse:
- Head directly to the official HRSA Data Explorer Portal.
- In the dataset selection section, make sure to choose “Health Center Program Sites.”
- Apply a column filter to “Site Type Description” and select “Mobile Unit.”
- Click “Export” to save the complete national list as an Excel or CSV file. This gives you direct access to the addresses, headquarters contacts, and regional operators for each mobile healthcare vehicle in the system.
National HCH Grantee Directory
The National HCH Grantee Directory is a specialized online database managed by the National Health Care for the Homeless Council. This directory catalogs all federally funded Health Care for the Homeless (HCH) projects in the United States, serving as a vital tool for local outreach coordinators, service providers, and individuals seeking specialized care.
How to use the HCH Grantee Directory
Since the Council itself does not provide direct patient care, the directory is designed to direct you immediately to the local clinical operators who do:
Step 1: Visit the official National HCH Grantee Directory portal.
Step 2: Use the interactive national map or select your specific state via the links located directly below the map.
Step 3: Review the directory list for your area. Each program entry includes the name of the administering agency, official website, phone number, physical address, and program coordinator details.
Step 4: Look for entries that detail outreach vans or mobile services. If the information does not appear explicitly on the summary page, call the listed provider number to request the route map for your mobile unit or the street medicine service schedule.
Why This Directory is Vital for Mobile Clinic Tracking
Conventional medical maps often overlook mobile street medicine teams, but the HCH directory focuses exclusively on programs designed for people experiencing homelessness. The organizations included in this directory have a structure distinct from conventional clinics:
Adapted care models: These organizations often use retrofitted medical RVs, street teams that carry equipment on foot, or clinics located in low-barrier shelters—all to overcome common transportation barriers.
Comprehensive care: Beyond treating physical ailments, these organizations feature specialized mental health teams, addiction recovery programs, dental services, and immediate case management.
No bureaucratic hurdles: Providers in this database receive HRSA funding specifically to serve individuals regardless of insurance status, income level, or lack of official identification documents.
Other Council tools
If a person requires specialized recovery care following hospitalization—rather than conventional mobile triage—the Council also offers an up-to-date National Medical Respite Care Directory. This independent tool locates recovery spaces where patients experiencing homelessness can safely heal from acute physical injuries or serious illnesses.
Mobile Health Map
Mobile Health Map is the largest national database dedicated exclusively to locating mobile medical units, dental buses, and street medicine vehicles. Managed by researchers at Harvard Medical School, this platform serves as a specialized directory for finding mobile health clinics, allowing users to filter results by specific populations, such as people experiencing homelessness.
How to use the Mobile Health Map clinic finder
Since mobile units change locations daily, the platform displays their primary administrative bases so you can easily contact them and find out their current routes.
Step 1: Access the official Mobile Health Map clinic finder directly.
Step 2: Enter the city, state, or zip code into the search box to view local results.
Step 3: Use the “Target Population” or “Services Offered” filters to narrow the list to programs that explicitly serve people experiencing homelessness or offer specialized street medicine services with minimal barriers to access.
Step 4: Click on a specific map marker to find the provider’s phone number and website. Call them directly to inquire about their weekly location schedules, shelter visits, or routes through homeless encampments.
Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs)
Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) are community-based clinics that serve as a safety net, offering comprehensive primary care services in underserved areas. They receive federal funding under Section 330 of the Public Health Service Act and are required to serve anyone, regardless of their ability to pay or insurance status.
How to find your local FQHC
You can locate all FQHCs and their associated mobile units using the official HRSA “Find a Health Center” tool.
2. Contact local referral centers
Dial 2-1-1: Call 2-1-1 from any phone or visit 211.org. Operators have access to local databases with up-to-date information on schedules, parking locations, and operating hours for mobile units in the region.
Day shelters and soup kitchens: Mobile medical units often prioritize parking at locations that offer a concentration of services. Soup kitchens, drop-in day shelters, and clothing banks often maintain a physical calendar recording exactly which days the mobile medical unit stops at their facilities.
3. Identify major regional providers
If you are in a large metropolitan area, check the websites of major regional safety-net providers directly. They often feature specialized field-based care units, such as:
Colorado: The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless uses mobile units throughout the Denver metropolitan area.
Texas: Local Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), such as CommuniCare, operate dedicated mobile health units.
California: Regional groups like St. Jude use mobile clinics to visit elementary schools and designated community spaces.
