Cooling center for the homeless opens its doors in Palm Springs

A new cooling center for the homeless opened its doors in Palm Springs Monday morning. This was a culmination of several weeks of work and public meetings for the non-profit, Well in the Desert. The Palm Springs City Council approved the cooling center on Calle Encilia in a 3-2 vote in June.

The facility won’t just provide air conditioning, but also amenities for the homeless including clean clothes, hot showers and snacks. Volunteers said the facility would keep them out of the sweltering heat that is common during the summer time.

Read: Roy’s Homeless Resource Center closes its doors in Palm Springs

One homeless man said he was grateful for the facility and planned on going every day.

“It makes me feel really good,” Jeff Hammer said. “We haven’t had it before. When they did have…it was a long ways away so it’s nice to have a place close to us to where we can do all that.”

Staff said they planned on spreading the word to other homeless who may have no other place to be during the day and help reduce complaints from local businesses regarding loitering.

The City of Palm Springs will conduct review in six months to see how well the facility functioning.

Read: More of today’s Top Stories from KESQ News Channel 3 & CBS Local 2 How hot will it get this week? Check out your First Alert Weather Forecast for the Coachella Valley