Tucson adds cooling centers, but unhoused still face barriers trying to escape deadly heat

On a 104-degree afternoon in late June, Keith Brogdon sat in a quiet corner of the Joel D. Valdez Main Library, scrolling on YouTube while his dog, Tiger, slept at his feet. A stuffed backpack with a sleeping pad strapped to the outside rested against his chair, and three big reusable water bottles were lined up on the table.

“I spend pretty much all my time here when I’m not sleeping,” said Brogdon, 62.

Brogdon has been without a permanent place to live for more than seven years. During Tucson’s summers, when temperatures regularly climb above 100 degrees, the Downtown library is one of the few places where he and Tiger can spend hours out of the heat. Outside, cooling off can feel almost impossible.

“The only thing to do is wet myself down. You know, take some water and dump it on me,” he said.

Extreme heat is one of Tucson’s most significant public health threats, and homeless people are among those most at risk. Last year, unhoused people accounted for nearly one in four heat-related deaths in Pima County, despite only about one in every 500 residents being homeless.

After a particularly deadly summer in Arizona in 2023, Pima County formalized and expanded a network of cooling centers and cooling spaces that now includes 48 sites, adding county-run locations alongside existing ones at libraries, community centers and shelters.

But interviews with unhoused Tucsonans suggest that the availability of air-conditioned spaces at scattered sites does not necessarily ensure access. Locations, hours, rules on pets and belongings, and relationships with staff can matter just as much.

Just a week before speaking with the Sentinel, Brogdon felt the effects of the heat more intensely than usual. After walking to nearby Z Mansion for a Sunday meal, he became lightheaded and his heart started racing.

“I felt like I was getting overheated,” he said.

He went to the volunteer medical team at the site at the north edge of Downtown, which provides services to unhoused residents. They brought him inside, checked his vital signs, and gave him electrolyte packets.

“They had me drink water there in the air conditioning,” he said. “That pretty much cooled me down.”

Heat-related symptoms are a regular part of summer for many people who spend significant time outdoors in Southern Arizona. Dr. Joy Mockbee, who oversees El Rio Health’s homeless outreach programs, said nearly every unhoused patient her team sees is affected by the heat in some way.

“Everything from burns from laying on the ground to dehydration and heat exhaustion,” she said.

Beyond the immediate effects, Mockbee said she often sees patients develop skin cancer at younger ages because of prolonged sun exposure. She also said medications for other conditions can become less effective when they can’t be kept cool.