Heat and Homelessness: A Bitter Recipe For Disaster

Now, we’ve all heard the saying, “It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity!” But judging by the latest study from Boston University, it turns out that for our less fortunate friends sleeping on the streets, it’s very much both! | In a whirlwind investigation that could make the Weather Channel weep, the research found that deaths among the homeless in Clark County, Nevada, and Los Angeles County, California, spiked 10 to 100 times higher due to heat than the general population. That’s like finding out your mum’s roast dinner has ten times more calories than a double cheeseburger and thinking, “Well, at least it’s *home-cooked*!”

Conducting this great summer roast analysis in two of the warmest locales—that’s Las Vegas, where the casinos are practically sizzling, and LA, where dreams are made to melt—showed just how detrimental heat can be to those experiencing homelessness. In Clark County, nearly 50% of the deceased during the study sweltered to their final sleep due to the heat! It’s enough to make you want to send them some ice water along with a fancy ‘get well soon’ card!

Los Angeles, meanwhile, boasted a cooler 5.2% in heat-related deaths. It’s like the difference between a light sunburn and being cooked alive on a rotisserie. And don’t even think about the effects of cold—when your daily heat beats your daily cold like this, it’s clear that dehydration is the new “it” tragedy of the summer. Hot tip: it’s not in style!

“No surprise,” said Dr. Jonathan Jay from BUSPH, confirming that “the magnitude was staggering.” Honestly, are we shocked? When you throw minimal shelter, extreme temperatures, and economic ramifications into a boiling pot, can anyone expect anything other than a big ol’ simmering chaos? Jay highlighted the **moral imperative** for us to do more. It’s like finding out your birthday cake was baked with love, but then realizing no one even bothered to put in the icing—that’s the kind of letdown we’re talking about.

With homelessness rates on the West Coast hitting levels that would make even the toughest economists weep, it’s time for some serious action. Now, is it just me or do you think our society might be treating these individuals like outdated smartphones, after all, we know they deserve an upgrade? Quantifying the fallout from extreme heat on people experiencing homelessness is critical to spotlighting and addressing these health inequalities.

To be blunt, if the systems designed to protect these vulnerable populations were a car, they’d be running on fumes and a prayer. I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence while driving through that heatwave. So, what can we do? Perhaps ask our leading thinkers to start treating climate and health measures like they treat a Hollywood script—a chance to get things *right*!

In summary, the heat is on, my friends—literally and figuratively. And it’s going to take more than sunscreen and sunglasses to shield those who find themselves without a roof over their heads. So, let’s turn up the fan on support and blow some much-needed cool air into this situation, shall we? After all, it’s time we all pulled together and stopped letting heat do its very best villain impression.

AGI – Deaths among homeless people in two large cities on the US west coast were 10 to 100 times higher than those attributable to heat in the general population. This is what emerges from a study by the Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH), published in the American Journal of Epidemiology. Due to the nature of their housing situation, homeless people (PEH) are considered one of the most vulnerable populations regarding health effects of extreme weather events.

The study looked at death rates in two U.S. counties with warm climates (Clark County in Nevada, which includes Las Vegas, and Los Angeles County in California) and found that daily heat played a role significant in mortality among PEH.

This association was particularly evident in Clark County, where nearly 50 percent of deaths during the study period were attributable to higher daily temperatures. Although Los Angeles County observed a lower percentage of deaths attributable to heat, at 5.2 percent, daily heat appeared to contribute to many more deaths than daily cold in both counties. The study is the first to examine heat-attributable mortality among PEH, providing valuable public health insights as the West Coast recovers from an unprecedented heat wave that prompted numerous heat advisories in parts of Los Angeles and Las Vegas, where temperatures have soared to 111 degrees and 104 degrees, respectively, in recent days.

Both cities also continue to grapple with persistently high rates of homelessness that far exceed the national average. Quantifying the impacts of extreme heat on PEH can inform new interventions and policies that reduce disease and mortality rates among this largely unsheltered population.

“It was no surprise that our team found an association between heat and mortality for people experiencing homelessness, but the magnitude was staggering,” says Dr. Jonathan Jay, senior author of the study and corresponding associate professor in community health sciences at BUSPH. “Our estimates are 10 to 100 times greater than the known associations between daily heat and mortality for the general population of Los Angeles and Las Vegas, and this finding highlights the moral imperative for our systems to do more.” The study says the new findings also demonstrate that heat exposure is an important factor amplifying large health inequalities for PEH and highlight the need to focus climate and health research on the most marginalized populations.