I called a friend of mine to catch up. She began to tell me the cactus in her front yard needed to be removed. Due to extreme heat this summer, her cactus cooked from the inside and was poisoning the soil. I was shocked and surprised by what I heard, but even more surprised by the thought that lingered after our conversations: “Tempe has no homeless shelters.” After working as a fellow in Tempe City Hall for 15 weeks this summer, it was a sentence I heard often. I didn’t feel the weight of this seemingly casual statement until hearing my friend’s tree had been burned alive. Later that day, I interviewed a member serving on the Equity in Action coalition and learned that one of the men she did homeless outreach for had passed from heat exhaustion on the streets. He was burned alive, yet Tempe has no homeless shelters.
This summer, this city experienced record-breaking heat with around 53 days where the temperature was over 110 degrees. However, Tempe is a desert city that experiences a lot of hostile climate beyond extreme heat; winter nights can be below thirty degrees. Arizona also has monsoon season from June to September which includes weather like thunderstorms, hail, dust storms, high winds and more. In addition to extreme weather, we experience high levels of environmental hazards like pollution and pollens. In 2020, the American Lung Association released its 21st annual State of the Air report where Maricopa County earned a grade of “F” in Ozone Grade and an “F” in particle pollution. High ozone levels and particle pollution are very dangerous to people’s health, and can increase risks of heart disease, lung cancer and asthma. To top it all off, there are also pollens and plants native to the valley like ragweed that can make your immune system more sensitive to allergic reactions. All these conditions combined make living in Tempe as an unsheltered person really difficult yet there are no homeless shelters for emergency or transitional housing in this city.
Every day when I drive down the frontage roads in Tempe, I see small encampments where people with signs have been standing on their feet for hours. I’ve seen elderly people, veterans, pregnant women, folks struggling with addiction and even a disabled man who’d fallen out of his wheelchair. I’ve checked the City of Tempe website and found limited information but no addresses for emergency housing shelters, bathing centers, warming centers, cooling centers or water stations for those in need. The situation is dire, it’s right in our backyard and our city must develop infrastructure and resources to protect those experiencing housing insecurity.
In Mid-October 2020, after completing my Equity in Action fellowship with the City of Tempe, I founded Ansanm Mutual Aid. “Ansanm” means “together,” in Haitian Creole, my family’s native tongue. Mutual aid requires that communities work together so vulnerable people don’t feel like they are free falling without a safety net. Ansanm mutual aid pushes back against Western notions of individualism by reminding us that unity makes strength by providing resources for unsheltered community members as an act of compassion.
Since then, I’ve raised about $1.5k and have created/distributed 50 bags of supplies and sleeping bags in the Greater Tempe area. I’ve been able to partner with community members and local organizations to make each round of bag distribution better than the last. The bags include sick kits, socks, non-perishable food, blankets, handwarmers, winter essentials and more. Mutual aid work pushes back against the idea that we have to go through hard times alone. However, mutual aid won’t solve the problem of homelessness without the proper infrastructure to support economically vulnerable people. A homeless shelter doesn’t just give people a place to sleep at night, they can be a hub distributing the critical social services that unsheltered communities need. For example, a temporary address, so people can fill out the necessary documents to work, apply for insurance and receive mail. My work as the founder of Ansanm Mutual Aid is important work but our community members deserve more support.
As Christmas approaches and the seasons change from one extreme to another, let us never forget that Jesus was born in a manger, outside where cattle eat. Two ways the Tempe community can usher in the Christmas spirit this year is by helping people who are experiencing poverty and homelessness by providing compassionate support and advocating for short-term and long-term transitional housing. While there’s not much we can do to stop our cacti from burning alive in our yards, there’s a lot our city can do to keep vulnerable community members from suffering outside in extreme climate this holiday season.