Salt Lake City baked through a record-shattering 109°F day this summer, and a new University of Utah report examines how unsheltered residents cope when the heat turns deadly. Researchers who tracked homeless residents with GPS devices and interviewed dozens of local business workers are now urging lawmakers to create a Code Red heat policy, mirroring the state's existing winter cold-weather protocol, before another brutal summer arrives.
The temperature record set July 12 broke Salt Lake City's previous all-time high of 107°F, according to The University of Utah. It capped a summer in which the city logged 20 days at or above 100°F, the third-most such days in a summer, tied with 2024 and 2013, while Salt Lake County overall had its second-warmest summer ever, per KSL News. That kind of sustained extreme heat is exactly what prompted University of Utah researchers to study how people living unsheltered actually survive the summer, and what, if anything, is helping them.
As KSL News reports, the researchers interviewed 24 people experiencing unsheltered homelessness in the Salt Lake Valley about how they navigate extreme heat in public spaces and how city and private business policies shape their ability to cope. The report identified heat exhaustion, dehydration, sleep disruption and emotional strain among participants, who described limited access to shade, water and restrooms. Eight of the study participants carried GPS-enabled smartphones and backpack-mounted weather monitors, tracking their locations and temperatures over six summer days — data that showed prolonged exposure to what the monitors defined as moderate- and high-risk heat thresholds, above 91°F and 102.9°F respectively.
Businesses Become Accidental Shelters
With public cooling options scarce, researchers found that Salt Lake City businesses have effectively become de facto heat refuges, according to the same KSL report. But the businesses themselves told researchers their capacity is limited and their practices too inconsistent to substitute for coordinated public cooling infrastructure. About 30 business employees, managers and owners took part in the research interviews.
Roughly 77% reported no restrictions on who could enter their storefront, and 73% said they had no set customer time limits. Policies were informal and handled case-by-case in half of the businesses surveyed, while 30% said they followed corporate guidance, and 37% said they changed their practices during extreme weather. Some businesses offered water or indoor cooling to people experiencing homelessness, while others worried that offering assistance might draw more unhoused people to their location. Sixty percent of businesses described personal guidelines for how staff interact with homeless customers — most said they aim to treat people kindly, respectfully, empathetically and equally, though one respondent said her own rule was simply to keep her distance and not engage.
Existing Daytime Centers Fall Short at Night
Researchers recommend expanding cooling-center locations and hours, alongside access to shade, water, sanitation and indoor cooling. They describe heat exposure as an infrastructure and governance problem, intensified when access to shade, water, sanitation, indoor cooling and secure places to rest is limited.
The stakes extend well beyond discomfort. Study participants reported heat exhaustion, dehydration, sleep disruption and emotional strain. The state's January 2026 Point-in-Time Count tallied 4,512 people experiencing homelessness statewide on a single night, including 945 unsheltered residents living on streets, in vehicles or in encampments, according to the Office of the Governor of Utah.
Why 'Code Red' Keeps Dying at the Capitol
Utah already has a legal framework for cold-weather emergencies. Under House Bill 499, passed in 2023, the state's Code Blue alert system requires local homeless resource centers to expand bed capacity by up to 35% during cold-weather emergencies, according to KSL TV's prior coverage. No equivalent heat-based trigger exists.
Lawmakers have tried, and failed, twice. Sen. Todd Weiler sponsored a 2025 bill that would have let shelters flex capacity by up to 35% during dangerously hot weather, but the Utah House rejected it 21-49. Rep. Steve Eliason then sponsored a bill allowing certain shelters to expand capacity once local temperatures reached or exceeded 105°F; the House rejected that measure too, by a narrower 34-37 vote. During the 2026 legislative session, Eliason sponsored a bill to expand some shelters during extreme heat, according to Elevate Utah.
How Other Cities Handle the Heat
Other heat-prone jurisdictions have already built what Utah lacks. Baltimore City operates formal Code Red Extreme Heat Alerts triggered when the heat index hits 105°F. During alerts, cooling centers are available and water is distributed specifically to unsheltered residents; hours vary by location and day, per the Baltimore City Health Department. In Maricopa County, Arizona, jurisdictions including Phoenix and Chandler run 24/7 overnight respite and heat relief centers specifically to cover the gap left when daytime-only cooling centers close, according to The Agenda.
The urgency isn't limited to Utah's sweltering valleys. A multi-year study published in Environmental Epidemiology examining unhoused mortality in Clark County, Nevada, from 2015 to 2022 found that more than half of temperature-attributable deaths among homeless residents were driven by extreme heat rather than winter cold, challenging the traditional focus on cold-weather sheltering in arid Western states.
What Researchers Want Done
Beyond a Code Red designation, the University of Utah researchers laid out a broader list of recommendations: integrating water, bathrooms, shade and cooling as basic heat infrastructure, including functional drinking fountains, extended summer bathroom access and shaded seating; expanding cooling center locations and hours; expanding and protecting the tree canopy in areas where unsheltered people spend time; and establishing protected, shaded rest areas during extreme heat events.
The report also calls for including people experiencing unsheltered homelessness directly in climate health planning, engaging businesses as partners rather than substitutes for public infrastructure, and supporting the informal community and peer networks that already share water, food, information and warnings about enforcement sweeps. Researchers acknowledged that housing remains the most effective long-term protection from extreme heat, even though it doesn't address immediate risk on its own. Equitable access to trees, water, sanitation, cooling and secure public space, the report concludes, can reduce preventable heat exposure and support more inclusive urban climate adaptation across the Salt Lake Valley.
