How To Become A Shelter Advocate: What It Is and Career Path

What is a shelter advocate and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a shelter advocate. For example, did you know that they make an average of $17.74 an hour? That's $36,889 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 12% and produce 52,400 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreShelter AdvocateUS Average

Salary

2.9

Avg. Salary $36,889

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.9

Growth rate 12%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

10.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.89%

Asian 5.18%

Black or African American 9.92%

Hispanic or Latino 20.45%

Unknown 4.95%

White 57.61%

Gender

female 91.87%

male 8.13%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress level

8.9

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.1

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.2

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a shelter advocate

Explore shelter advocate education requirements

Most common shelter advocate degrees

Bachelor's

61.6 %

Associate

19.6 %

Master's

8.2 %

Start to develop specific shelter advocate skills

Skills	Percentages
Crisis Intervention	24.39%
Safety Planning	10.83%
Client Intake	9.25%
Mental Health	6.63%
Cleanliness	4.78%

Complete relevant shelter advocate training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New shelter advocates learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a shelter advocate based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real shelter advocate resumes.

Research shelter advocate duties and responsibilities

Enter data in HMIS and NCATrak.
Complete necessary monthly and yearly statistics for HUD and OASAS.
Preform regular chores and cleaning tasks to ensure the safety and cleanliness of the shelter facility.
Perform routine chores and cleaning tasks assign by shift to ensure the safety and cleanliness of the shelter facility.

Prepare your shelter advocate resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your shelter advocate resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a shelter advocate resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable shelter advocate resume templates

Build a professional shelter advocate resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your shelter advocate resume.