MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
It's only spring, but Phoenix, Arizona, has already seen triple-digit temperatures this month. The number of heat-related deaths in the area actually fell last year for the first time in a decade, even though it was Phoenix's hottest year on record. But money for the public health interventions that kept the death toll from rising is starting to run out. KJZZ's Katherine Davis-Young has this report.
KATHERINE DAVIS-YOUNG, BYLINE: When it gets hot in Phoenix, people at the highest risk for heat-related injury or death are those with no place to live. Jessica Berg is with the Catholic charity Society of St. Vincent de Paul.
JESSICA BERG: People get literal third-degree burns from laying or sitting on the ground, and if you don't have anywhere to sleep, that's where you're sleeping.
DAVIS-YOUNG: St. Vincent de Paul runs this dining hall on the campus of Phoenix's biggest hub for homeless services. Since the pandemic, it's doubled as a makeshift shelter with mats rolled out on the floor every night. Shelters across the county are full as the homeless population has grown. So these extra beds have become critical, especially during Phoenix's brutal summers. Now, the mostly federal pandemic-era funding that's paid for them is running out. Sleeping in this dining hall will end in October, but another overflow space closes June 1. Berg says that means 110 fewer beds just as dangerous heat sets in.
BERG: It's scary, to say the least.
DAVIS-YOUNG: A decade ago, about 60 people a year died from heat. Last year, it was about 600. Expanding access to air-conditioned spaces for unhoused people has been central to the city and county's strategy to reduce deaths. Maricopa County's Dr. Nick Staab says last year's slight decrease in deaths shows those efforts are starting to pay off.
NICK STAAB: My hope is that we can keep lowering this number.
DAVIS-YOUNG: Heat relief here used to be a patchwork system of libraries and churches that offered places to cool off. But with federal pandemic aid, it grew into a much more organized, county-wide network of sites open at more hours of the day with more services. But that aid expires in 2026. Staab says the heat strategy it funded proved a concept for the last few summers. Now they're looking for a way to keep it going.
STAAB: Is it private business? Is it philanthropic efforts - state, county and local funds? I think there's a lot of potential there if we can show that this is a responsible and the right way to spend money to help people during the summer.
DAVIS-YOUNG: Right now, Arizona's state budget doesn't allocate money to these efforts. At the federal level, heat relief doesn't have an obvious budget source, either - not FEMA or the CDC. Grants that states rely on for disasters or public health don't exist for the threat of heat. This year, the city of Phoenix plans to supplement its $4.9 million heat-relief budget with money from opioid settlements. But Mayor Kate Gallego is concerned about heat funding in the long-term.
KATE GALLEGO: Phoenix cannot do this alone.
DAVIS-YOUNG: Gallego has called for the federal government, the state and even other Arizona cities to pitch in more as temperatures rise. Last year, Phoenix had a record-shattering 70 days above 110 degrees. But Gallego says that was likely only the city's hottest summer so far.
GALLEGO: I'm hopeful. One silver lining about the terrible heat numbers from this summer is that we will realize this is a national issue. It is not just a Phoenix issue, and we will finally see Congress pass legislation.
DAVIS-YOUNG: For now, St. Vincent de Paul's Jessica Berg says those who work directly with vulnerable populations are doing their best to prepare as summer approaches and resources dwindle.
BERG: It's just a bigger problem than we all have capacity for right now.
DAVIS-YOUNG: For NPR News, I'm Katherine Davis-Young in Phoenix. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
