| | | No Longer Hidden
| This Heat Action Day, Tracking California releases new data showing who is hit hardest by extreme heat – and who’s been overlooked.
| | | | Unhoused Californians account for nearly 1 in 10 heat-related Emergency Department visits, despite representing less than 0.4% of California’s population.
| For years, the people most affected by extreme heat were hidden in the data. Improved hospital coding now shows who was missing—and reveals a burden of heat-related illness that is far larger and more unequal than previously understood.
| These findings have important implications for how we track, plan for, and respond to extreme heat, particularly in communities most at risk.
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| This month, we are publishing three data briefs that together, tell that story.
| | | Invisible Patients:
Who’s Missing from the Data?
| For years, what looked like missing data was actually a missing population. This brief shows that most of those left out were experiencing homelessness - and that leaving them out means we’re missing the people who may need the most care.
| Read the brief →
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| | | Heat and Homelessness: Disproportionate Impacts
| With this population now visible, a clear pattern emerges: Californians experiencing homelessness are getting sick from heat at much higher rates than everyone else.
| Read the brief →
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| | | Extreme Heat Days Hit Unhoused Californians Hardest
| We compared 2019-2022 emergency visits to understand how heat affects heart, lung, and heat-illness conditions in people with and without housing. We found that unhoused Californians, especially Black individuals and older adults, face significantly higher risks.
| Read the brief →
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| | Together, these briefs show who was missing from the data, how big the impact really is, and how extreme heat is making these gaps even worse.
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