ASU research leads to new law protecting mobile-home dwellers from extreme heat

Back in 2018, researchers at Arizona State University made a shocking discovery. While mobile homes only accounted for 5% of housing in Maricopa County, 30% to 40% of indoor heat deaths occurred among people living in mobile homes.

The researchers are part of the Knowledge Exchange for Resilience , an interdisciplinary center that works with local communities to research and solve problems, including extreme heat.

To understand why so many living in mobile homes were so vulnerable to heat, KER began working with the Arizona Association of Manufactured Home, RV & Park Model Owners, a residents’ advocacy group. ASU students who were residents at a mobile-home park were also instrumental in getting their neighbors to participate in surveys about heat issues.

While interviewing some residents, the team sat in homes that were 105 degrees indoors during the summer, said Patricia Solis , executive director of KER .

Based on their findings, KER produced a solutions guide for residents, landlords and city governments to address the issue. But those solutions weren’t getting used everywhere. That’s when the team

uncovered a deeper problem — landlords often prohibited residents from installing air-conditioning units, shade structures and other cooling measures.

So the research needed to be transformed into policy that would allow residents the right to mitigate heat in their homes.

KER shared its data with Wildfire AZ, a Phoenix-based anti-poverty organization that started the first warm-weather fuel fund in the country.

Wildfire shaped the language that became bill HB2146 and found a sponsor in Rep. David Cook. In January 2024, Solis testified about the research when the Commerce Committee of the Arizona House of Represenatives heard the bill.

The committee voted unanimously to move the bill forward and it was approved unanimously by both the full Arizona House of Representatives and the Senate.

In April 2024, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs signed the bill into law, guaranteeing mobile-home owners the right to install cooling measures.

How heat affects the body

Your body cools itself by sweating and by increasing blood flow to the skin. In extreme or prolonged heat, this can cause dehydration, electrolyte imbalances, organ damage and even death. People with existing health conditions are at higher risk.

The light bulb moment came out of ASU discovering the disproportionate number of heat-related deaths in mobile homes. At Wildfire, the leg of the race we ran was, how can we take this important and wonderful information and tell this story to the legislature?

— Maxine Becker attorney advocate Wildfire AZ