After cutting ties with Well in the Desert, Palm Springs scrambles for new homeless cooling center

Extreme heat can be especially hard on those without homes here in the valley.

Well in the Desert is the only organization providing services for homeless people in the west Coachella Valley. Last week, Palm Springs city council decided to end its relationship with the Well.

There are new efforts underway to bring Martha's Village and Kitchen on board to open a new cooling center in Palm Springs, but with the heat already here, it's turning into a race against time.

Arlene Rosenthal, president of Well in the Desert, helps more than 100 unhoused people every day get off of Palm Springs streets and cool off. "During temperatures like this, homeless people die," Rosenthal said.

The center, however, is not an overnight shelter. With temperatures sometimes still into the triple digits, even once the sun sets, that's a big risk for those without homes. "Very hard to handle," Rosenthal said. "I have to tell them that there is no place here. They can come in and we can do the best we can for them."

It's not permitted by the city, but in extreme temperatures Rosenthal allows people to sleep outside the building with the misters on, or even inside.

"It’s a humanitarian need right now," she said. "That’s not up to code; we’re not supposed to do that but we have to go beyond the rules when it comes to peoples lives."

Amid controversy, last week Palm Springs city council decided not to renew its contract with Well in the Desert. But that bears the question, where will the estimated 1,500 people without homes in the west end of the valley go in the brutal summer heat?

CEO of Martha's Village and Kitchen Linda Barrack is being asked to step in and get a daytime cooling center in the former Palm Springs boxing club building. "We know that this has to happen because it's hot out there and it's gonna be hot for a long time," Barrack said.

The organization just got a grant to increase staffing and provide wraparound services there to help link people to housing and employment. But right now, it's only in discussion.

"It's going to take a lot of people pulling together to make this happen in the way that it needs to happen," Barrack said.

Meantime, the temperatures keep climbing, and with Well in the Desert's permit set to expire at the end of next month, it's now an urgent scramble to beat the heat.

Barrack said the timeline is unclear when the new cooling center could open, but meetings are getting underway about what the city expects and what the organization can deliver.