Shelters offer 24-hour service to overheated homeless

Shanghai's homeless shelters provide around-the-clock service to help homeless people cope with the excessive hot weather, local media reported Monday.

District homeless shelters provide free meals, air-conditioned accommodations, showers and drinking water to the homeless, the Shanghai Evening Post reported.

Despite these efforts, however, the city's homeless shelters have not experienced a clear increase in the number of people coming to take advantage of the services, according to an official from the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau, who asked to remain anonymous.

"This is mainly because the number of the homeless people in the city has not increased. There are many cool places in the city where they can shelter from the heat, such as the entrances to metro stations and stores," the official told the Global Times.

Homeless people are allowed to stay at the shelters for up to 10 straight days, but it is up to them if they want to use the service, the official said.

The Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau has been working with other government agencies to increase patrols at the places where the homeless congregate to let them know they can turn to nearby shelters to avoid the heat, according to the report.

Also, public hospitals said they would give immediate treatment to homeless people who walk in with heat stroke symptoms.

Local media reported that a homeless person died of heatstroke near Xinzhuang Metro Station in Minhang district last Saturday.