In extreme heat, unhoused people are among the most vulnerable. Last year in Maricopa County, home to Phoenix, they made up the largest share of heat-associated deaths. The county’s chief medical examiner expects this year’s death toll to be even higher, and the risks are growing more dire as the planet warms. July was Earth’s hottest month on record, and Phoenix weathered a 31-day streak of highs above 110 degrees.

Interactions with the police frequently add stress and complications to unhoused people’s efforts to survive deadly temperatures. Police routinely clear encampments and force individuals off public spaces like parks and sidewalks. They may ticket or arrest people if they don’t leave, or for offenses encountered during sweeps. Two years ago, the U.S. Department of Justice opened an investigation into the Phoenix Police Department, in part to probe whether officers illegally threw away belongings of people experiencing homelessness while clearing encampments.

Last week, I spoke with Trever Spitzer as he watched over another person’s belongings in the shade of a highway overpass near the eastern border of Phoenix. The temperature exceeded 100 degrees. He worried that police often give little notice before making people leave a site. The last time he experienced this, Spitzer said, he had to scramble to pack his belongings overnight after already being exhausted from the daytime heat.

Spitzer had previously stayed in a large encampment that the neighboring city of Tempe cleared last year. “That was our home,” he said. “Once you kick us out of there, you’re making us homeless.” He described being bounced around, as he tried to find places to camp while still staying close to community and reliable food sources.

This problem extends beyond Arizona — especially as much of the U.S. faces extreme heat. In Sacramento, California, a lawsuit by a community group resulted in a judge preventing the city from clearing encampments until Sept. 1. The order came after Sacramento broke up an encampment in July. The city offered people space in a sanctioned encampment, but many of the unhoused worried that the site was too hot. Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho has threatened legal action against the city if officials do not step up enforcement of a law that bans camping that blocks sidewalks.

Read the full article about homelessness, police, and extreme heat by Geoff Hing at The Marshall Project.