‘Nothing feels like enough’: surviving the heat in a New Mexico homeless encampment

Residents of Camp Hope in Las Cruces are more equipped to deal with the staggering heat than people living on streets, but residents and staff stress that it's no substitute for housing

It's unusually quiet at the entrance to Camp Hope when the temperature hits 102F (38.8C) on a sizzling Monday afternoon this week.

Fewer than a dozen of the usual 50 residents at this sanctioned homeless encampment in Las Cruces, New Mexico, are milling about. Those that are around are hosing themselves off with water until their clothes are soaked through, resting in front of fans plugged into long extension cords, or sheltering in the shade that wooden structures offer.