The Valley’s summer heat can be deadly, causing 662 heat-associated deaths in the Maricopa County over the past two years.
The challenge to reduce those deaths has only become steeper, as the number of unsheltered people in the county, who are most vulnerable to the heat, has starkly increased in recent years.
Unsheltered people accounted for nearly one-third of heat-associated deaths in Phoenix last year. According to the Maricopa County Department of Public Health, unsheltered people accounted for three of four heat-associated deaths in 2020 but that share shrank to less than half in 2021.
