Scott Hall watched forklifts unload water pallets at the Key Campus downtown on March 18, the day Phoenix hit 100 degrees for the earliest time in 131 years of records. As deputy director of the city's Office of Homeless Solutions, he knew the overnight cooling centers and extended library hours written into the 2026 Heat Response Plan were still six weeks from activation. The plan, approved unanimously on February 25, organizes 23 actions around a May 1 start date.
His outreach teams improvised. But the Heat Relief Network map, the tool that tells vulnerable residents where to find cooling and water, wasn't live yet. The people who needed it most had no way to locate what little was available.