Hot weather and the homeless

I'm not going to complain about the hot weather. Our winters are too long for me to take issue with a few hot days. I can say that because I have air conditioning.

But when you're living on the street, there is no such thing as air conditioning. You can find shade but even in the shade, spending a full day outside in this weather isn't healthy. That's why on a day like today our triage staff will spend about 95 per cent of their day walking the grounds, ensuring people are drinking water. In some cases, we don't ask. We just give them some water as often homeless people can be unaware  they're already suffering from the effects of dehydration.

We'll also let people spend time indoors today where it's a lot cooler. For more on hot weather days and the impact on the homeless, please read this story we wrote recently.