“Across the West, housing markets and temperatures are both scorching hot. A punishing spring of drought, wildfires and record-shattering heat is amplifying questions about the habitability of the Southwest in a rapidly warming climate. But it has done little to slow the rapid growth of cities like Phoenix, where new arrivals are fuelling a construction frenzy—as well as rising housing costs that are leaving many residents increasingly desperate to find a place they can afford to live.
“Construction workers and landscapers whose sweat is fuelling the growth do not have the option of working from an air-conditioned office. Instead, they say they worry about passing out or dying on the job as 115-degree days come earlier and grow ever more common.”
I’ll bet this ends well.
“Mr. Gutierrez and his crew sometimes drive two hours to reach the new subdivisions creeping deeper into the desert. As the sun beat down, they put on gaiters and woven hats, but it barely helped.
“One of the members of the crew had gotten dizzy and nearly tumbled from a roof the other afternoon. Not even a bush was left in the newly cleared desert where houses now bloomed, so they huddled for shade under the rafters of unfinished houses.”
I’ll bet this ends well.
What’s amazing is that heat-related deaths are already a big thing in Phoenix, and if you’re homeless then you’re probably next in line:
“Being homeless in an era of mega-heat waves is particularly deadly, as homeless people represented half of last year’s record 323 heat-related deaths across the Phoenix area. The homeless population has grown during the pandemic, and activists are now worried that an expiring eviction moratorium will mean others will lose their homes at the height of summer.”
I’ll bet this ends well.
Cooling centres are an actual thing in Phoenix:
“Volunteers armed with maps are set to hit the streets in Phoenix soon to check on people and guide them to cooling centers, but Mr. Castro said he knew nothing of the 89 air-conditioned cooling centers operating across the county. The borrowed flip phone he uses during the day was useless in trying to find online maps showing free water and heat-relief tents.
“I didn’t even know they had cooling centers,” Mr. Castro said.”
So they now build fridges to store poor people during hot days. Livin’ the dream!
This is all happening in the world’s wealthiest country. Imagine the stories not been told in poor countries where living conditions are at a much lower baseline to begin with.
I think I speak for all of us when I say that building more houses in the desert is probably not the solution here.
[Photos: Juan Arredondo for the New York Times]