As triple-digit temperatures arrive, the air conditioning system at Phoenix’s central hub for homeless services is in need of costly repairs.
Keys to Change is the lead organization on a 13-acre campus in downtown Phoenix where multiple shelters and other homeless service organizations operate. More than 18,000 homeless individuals sought services on the campus last year.
The air conditioning units that cool the Central Arizona Shelter Services 600-bed shelter and two other large buildings on the Key Campus were installed seven years ago. Keys to Change CEO Amy Schwabenlender said the units have had regular tuneups, and the organization hoped they would last at least a few more years. But after running nearly nonstop through multiple summers of record-breaking heat, the units are beginning to show signs of failure.
Schwabenlender said she has been quoted $115,000 to repair the units, which far exceeds what the organization had in its budget this year.
“Unfortunately, what we have not been able to do is have a surplus in any year that we could set aside a reserve for this kind of large maintenance cost,” Schwabenlender told KJZZ.
Extreme heat contributed to the deaths of 602 people in Maricopa County last year, at least half of whom were homeless. Schwabenlender said providing air conditioned spaces on the campus during the summer is an urgent priority.
“We cannot have the spaces not be at a healthy temperature, so if it came down to it, it would probably mean we’d have to cut something else that is also critical to services for our clients,” Schwabenlender said.
She said the organization is seeking new donations to avoid those hard decisions.
