A Hoarding Alliance local resource guide
A respectful place to begin, whether you are looking for support for yourself, worried about someone you love, or trying to respond to a safety, housing, care, or practical concern in Dubuque and Dubuque County.
Start here - Fight the Blight
Fight the Blight is the nonprofit and virtual-group front door for people affected by hoarding and clutter concerns, including people who are directly affected and supporters who want to learn how to provide support. People in Dubuque and Dubuque County can also use current city, county, state, nonprofit, peer-support, qualified-care, housing, shelter, food, benefits, transportation, legal, code, disposal, and practical pathways. No outside listing is an endorsement; each organization sets its own eligibility, cost, hours, service area, capacity, consent, privacy, and safety rules.
For immediate danger, fire, serious injury, violence, or a life-threatening medical emergency, call 911. For Iowa behavioral-health crisis support, call 855-581-8111, text 855-895-8398, or call or text 988. For non-crisis peer listening, Iowa's Warm Line is 844-775-9276. For housing, food, utilities, transportation, and other basic-needs navigation, call 211. Confirm the current local response before relying on it.
First conversations
You do not need to know the perfect service name before reaching out. These organizations can help you understand the landscape and identify a next step.
Your Life Iowa provides free, confidential phone, text, and chat support for mental health, substance use, gambling, and related concerns. Its system navigators can help identify local care, crisis, housing, money, or job resources. Call 911 for immediate danger.
The Iowa Warm Line connects people with peer listeners who have lived recovery experience and can offer non-crisis support and resource navigation. Your Life Iowa's current crisis page lists 24/7 access; Dubuque County materials may show earlier hours, so confirm the current schedule when calling.
Iowa 211 can help locate current housing, shelter, food, utility, health, disability, legal, transportation, and other basic-needs resources. It is a navigation pathway, not emergency dispatch or a guarantee that a provider has an open bed or appointment.
The East Central Region and District 7 Disability Access Point helps people seeking aging or disability services understand available supports, funding eligibility, and referrals. Ask about accessibility, in-home supports, benefits, and the right local intake office.
NAMI Dubuque offers free peer-led support, family guidance, education, classes, and advocacy for people affected by mental-health conditions and the people who support them. Ask about current peer-run wellness hours, groups, privacy, access, and fit.
The International OCD Foundation directory can be searched for clinicians, support groups, organizers, and programs that indicate an interest in hoarding-related care. Ask about experience, licensure, fees, insurance, wait time, privacy, and whether home-based or telehealth work fits.
Safety and stability
These pathways serve different situations. Read the labels carefully before calling, especially when a response may involve crisis care, protective services, shelter, housing rules, legal advocacy, or emergency dispatch.
Call 911 when there is immediate danger, fire, a medical emergency, violence, or a threat that cannot wait for a scheduled service. Emergency dispatch is not a hoarding-support program, counseling service, or cleanup provider.
Iowa Health and Human Services receives reports of suspected abuse, neglect, self-neglect, or financial exploitation of dependent adults. The hotline is available 24/7; call 911 if the adult is in imminent danger. This is a protective-services pathway, not a general cleanup service.
Use 911 for immediate danger. For a non-emergency law-enforcement concern, Dubuque County lists separate dispatch and sheriff contacts; county emergency information and alerts are separate from hoarding support or cleanup services.
The city Housing and Community Development department handles housing programs, rental licensing and inspections, code enforcement, and related community-development work. An inspection or notice may begin a compliance process, but it is not a guaranteed cleanup, relocation, or support service.
The Office of Human Rights enforces the local civil-rights ordinance, including housing and disability protections. Ask about jurisdiction, reasonable accommodations, documentation, and the difference between an information request, complaint, and emergency concern.
Dubuque Y Crisis Services offers emergency shelter and support for women and families seeking safety from domestic violence, human trafficking, sexual assault, or other violent crimes. This is a violence-safety pathway, not general hoarding support; call 911 for immediate danger.
Opening Doors describes Teresa Shelter as an emergency and extended-stay program with case management and possible longer-term pathways through its continuum of housing. Confirm current eligibility, household composition, accessibility, intake, and bed availability before traveling.
The Dubuque Rescue Mission lists a 33-bed emergency shelter, free meals, clothing and furniture vouchers, and case-management or care-coordination connections. Shelter intake is for men age 18 and older and is first-come, first-served; confirm current capacity and belongings rules.
The city's public-benefits guide points residents toward Food Assistance, Medicaid, LIHEAP, and other state programs. Ask about current application methods, required documents, accessibility, and whether the need belongs with benefits, 211, or a local assistance program.
For a behavioral-health or substance-use crisis that is not an immediate physical emergency, Your Life Iowa offers free call, text, and chat access for information, referral, counseling, and crisis-service coordination. Call 911 when someone is in immediate danger.
People and practical help
These listings connect the local community with housing, food, behavioral health, benefits, transit, survivor advocacy, disability support, peer support, and practical resources. Ask about current availability, cost, scope, consent, and safety before relying on them.
The city reports that its Housing Choice Voucher waitlist is currently closed, with no scheduled opening date. When funding is available, openings may be limited to a second-Tuesday 24-hour window and lottery process; check the current page before relying on it.
The city lists Rose of Dubuque as a project-based voucher property with 17 one-bedroom units for people who are 62 or older or who have a disability and need activities-of-daily-living support. Verify current status, eligibility, and support needs.
The city offers a universal eligibility form for current financial-assistance programs, including utility discounts, Community Impact Service, home-rehabilitation loans, and age-in-place assistance. Ask what documentation and property or income rules apply.
The city's current consolidated plan identifies local homelessness partners and coordinated-entry work, including Opening Doors, Dubuque Y Crisis Services, Mary's Inn, St. John's Almost Home, and the Rescue Mission. Use it as a map to ask 211 or a local provider about current entry points.
St. Vincent de Paul asks neighbors in need to leave a message on its voucher line so volunteers can arrange an intake conversation. Available help may include food, clothing, furniture, cleaning and hygiene supplies, household items, rent, and utilities; supplies and funding are not guaranteed.
Iowa Legal Aid lists a Northeast Iowa regional office in Dubuque and provides civil legal help for eligible people. Housing, benefits, disability, consumer, debt, and safety issues may be relevant; apply to determine eligibility and current capacity.
NAMI Dubuque's local programming includes peer-run wellness hours, classes, support groups, family programs, and one-to-one peer and family support. Contact the organization to confirm current times, access needs, privacy expectations, and fit.
Operation Empower's Liberty Recovery center welcomes people seeking recovery and re-entry support after treatment, shelter, corrections, rescue missions, or other community settings. Confirm current schedule, scope, and fit; it is not hoarding-disorder care.
Crescent Community Health Center serves people seeking a healthcare home in Dubuque. It accepts Medicaid, Medicare, and private insurance and offers a sliding fee scale for qualifying uninsured or underinsured patients; ask about care navigation and current access.
Dubuque County Public Health maintains community-resource and food-resource information and can help residents identify a local public-health or referral pathway. Ask which concern belongs with public health, HHS, 211, or a medical provider.
The county's District 7 pathway can help determine whether someone may qualify for funded services and connect them with local providers. Ask about disability, aging, mental-health, crisis, and in-home support options and required documentation.
The county provides a general contact and resource page for residents who need help identifying the right public or community pathway. Use it to ask about benefits, health, housing, transportation, aging, and disability supports, then confirm details directly.
The Rescue Mission lists daily meals, emergency shelter, clothing and furniture vouchers, and connections with case managers or care coordinators. Confirm current meal hours, shelter intake, accessibility, belongings rules, and available supplies before traveling.
Opening Doors describes Teresa Shelter, Maria House, and Francis Apartments as a continuum from emergency and extended-stay shelter to transitional and permanent supportive housing. Ask about household eligibility, income contribution, accessibility, case management, and current openings.
The city housing department lists home-improvement, homebuyer, rental, neighborhood, and community-development programs. Ask whether a safety or habitability concern fits a grant, loan, inspection, rental-license, or code pathway and what the application requires.
The Iowa 211 directory lets residents search by location and topic, including shelters, housing search, home-rehab or barrier-removal help, and utility-payment assistance. Use it to identify options, then confirm cost, eligibility, intake, hours, and capacity directly.
The Jule provides public fixed-route transit and MiniBus door-to-door service for qualifying disabled riders and seniors. Fixed routes and paratransit operate within Dubuque and East Dubuque; ask about eligibility, advance reservations, accessibility, and current schedules.
DMASWA provides regional disposal and recycling information at its Dubuque facility, including landfill, electronics, household hazardous waste, tires, and other material rules. It is a disposal pathway, not a cleanup, organizing, or hoarding-support provider.
Dubuque provides curbside trash, recycling, food-scrap and yard-waste, special-item, and large-item collection for eligible households. Large-item collection is scheduled and fee-based; confirm accepted items, account rules, set-out timing, and current charges before placing anything out.
The Peer Tree is the private-pay pathway for organizing help, decluttering support, groups, family guidance, and practical next steps when a grant or public program is not the right fit. Ask about scope, cost, travel, consent, safety, and whether support is available in Dubuque or Dubuque County.
Unburied, from The Peer Tree, offers a judgment-free digital pathway with peer support, groups, and tools for people directly affected and for friends or family supporters. It is not therapy, a crisis service, or a substitute for emergency help.
A note from the Alliance
This guide is anchored in Dubuque, Iowa, and includes city, county, state, nonprofit, national, and independent pathways. A listing here does not mean Fight the Blight endorses every provider or can guarantee availability. The Hoarding Alliance is not a city or county agency, therapy practice, emergency service, or cleanup company. We will keep reviewing this page, but please confirm details directly before relying on them.
Need help choosing a path? Contact Fight the Blight