These in-their-own-words pieces are told to Patricia Lane and co-edited with input from the interviewee for the purpose of brevity.

Gabby Doebeli helps people help each other to survive in extreme heat. Her work in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside has lessons for us all.

Tell us about your project.

I work with tenants and their organizations in the Downtown Eastside and the University of British Columbia’s Centre for Climate Justice to learn how to manage extreme, prolonged indoor heat in single-room occupancy homes (SROs). SROs are low-income housing where over 7,000 people live, often the last stop before homelessness or the first stop after homelessness.

For the past two summers, tenants in almost 1,000 SRO units recorded temperatures in their buildings. I worked with them to monitor temperatures, hand out water to their neighbours, surveyed tenants and interviewed people about their experiences.

As soon as I walked into a building, I started sweating. Our data shows these people’s homes are regularly 38 degrees or higher, which is too hot for safety. At night, they are hotter than outside. Cooling equipment is either unaffordable or incompatible with aging buildings. Half do not have access to water they trust to be........

© National Observer