Temperatures were fast approaching 116 degrees as Rubén Partida and his wife, Kimberly, loaded their dusty Nissan Frontier truck with two coolers of water and Gatorades blanketed in ice. As their neighbors prepared to shelter during the hottest part of the day on June 30, the Partidas began their outreach efforts to members of the unhoused community in Brawley, a city of about 25,000 in the heart of California’s agricultural Imperial Valley.

This has been the couple’s reality every weekday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. since June, when temperatures began regularly exceeding 100.

In line with broader state and national trends, Imperial County has seen a steady increase in unhoused people , rising from 1,057 in 2022 to 1,303 in 2023 and to 1,508 in 2024. The county’s increase from 2023 to 20

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