After work on Austin's hottest day of the year, the 5-minute walk from the office to my car left me sweaty and uncomfortable. The thermostat in my car still registered over 100 degrees.
Luckily, I could blast my AC and head to my home with central air, a luxury unavailable to people experiencing homelessness.
During the day, unhoused people and those without AC can find refuge at public libraries and recreation centers Austin has identified as "cooling centers." But most of these cooling centers close at 6 or 8 p.m., when the heat is often still in the triple digits and heavy humidity persists.
Austin has a system for opening emergency overnight shelters in the winter, but there’s no formal process that activates overnight shelters during times of extreme heat.
A recent New York Times analysis found the number of abnormally hot nights in Austin has increased by more than 130% since the 1990s.
“When it’s hot, our hearts work hard to cool us, redirecting blood to the surface of our skin," the report said. "But when nights are hot, our hearts don’t get a break, working on overdrive and depriving other organs of blood."
For most of August, the temperature in Austin never dropped below the high 70s, according to the National Weather Service.
“All the government announcements and advisories say to go into air conditioning and stay inside, and unfortunately a lot of our neighbors without homes don’t have that option,” Andi Brauer, the neighbors program manager at Central Presbyterian Church, said.
Ziggy, an unhoused Austinite who sleeps in public parks, said the idea of an overnight cooling shelter would be "wonderful" when it's this hot.
“I could afford to sleep a few hours and have a rest[ful] night," he said. "[You] can’t think when you’re stressed in the heat."
Susie Beeson is a leader with Vocal Texas, a grassroots group that supports Austin's unhoused population. Beeson stays at a shelter now, but she didn't always have access to one. Last summer she slept every night on the sidewalk.
"If I was on the street like I was last summer, [when] I was sleeping on the sidewalk downtown, I definitely would go to a cooling center," she said. "Definitely."
Cooling centers occasionally extend their hours during excessive heat warnings or emergencies — including after Wednesday's grid failure that left thousands without power in East Austin — but no overnight cooling centers beyond Austin's limited shelter capacity exist.
Due to power outages in south Austin, Cooling Center Hours have been extended until 11:00 p.m. at the following locations:
— Austin Emergency Management (@AustinHSEM) August 22, 2024
Montopolis Recreation and Community Center
1200 Montopolis Dr, Austin, TX 78741
Pan AM Recreation Center at
2100 E 3rd St, Austin, TX 78702 pic.twitter.com/YFkCcZMB1b
The city works with the National Weather Service and Austin Public Health to determine when to open emergency shelters, said Sara Henry, a public information officer with Austin’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management. The agency manages emergency shelters.
Henry said the shelters are a life-saving measure.
They're open during the two most vulnerable times to be outdoors in Austin: summer days with sweltering heat and frigid winter nights.
Henry said the department will look into data that would support activating overnight cooling shelters.
"We're always looking at what is the best interest and the highest need of our community and how can we meet that need," she said.
