Whether you rent or own in California, your home must have a functional heating system that can maintain a temperature of at least 70 degrees.
But there is no requirement for cooling equipment to keep the home from getting dangerously hot. Landlords are under no obligation to provide air conditioning, swamp coolers or anything else to keep rental units safe for occupants during heat waves.
That was understandable decades ago. But it is now unacceptable that greenhouse gas pollution has caused average temperatures more than two degrees higher than in the 1950s, causing more frequent, dangerous and record-breaking heat waves and a growing number of deaths.
Cities and counties across the country, including Houston, Dallas, Phoenix, Portland, Ore. and Clark County, Nev., have established indoor temperature limits or cooling requirements. Countries, including the UK, Germany and Japan, also have it. LA County is developing itself maximum temperature standard.
But California’s policies have not changed to reflect our new reality.
In 2022, lawmakers failed to enact legislation to establish maximum indoor temperature standards for residential units. But they passed the language of the water which directs the Department of Housing and Community Development to come up with recommendations for the maximum indoor air temperature that ensures safe homes for residents and send it to the Legislature at the end of this year.
Earlier this month, the department released a narrowly disappointed statement draft recommendations, which recommends a maximum safe indoor air temperature of 82 degrees – but only for newly constructed housing units. While it will apply to rentals and owner-occupied homes, it does not include the more than 14 million existing housing units, where the majority of Californians live, millions without air conditioning. The standard is weaker than previous draftin April, who proposed the adoption of a temperature limit of 82 degrees and not remove the houses there.
Is this the best California officials can do?
Including units that are under statewide temperature limits is important. California alone builds about 100,000 new homes each year, and most of them already include air conditioning. Abandoning existing homes may appeal to landlords, who oppose the requirement to install cooling equipment because of the cost. But it would defeat the purpose of the standard, which is to save lives and protect the most vulnerable communities, whose neighborhoods are less shaded and whose homes are older, less insulated. increase the risk of extreme heat.
Instead of setting temperature limits, the department made other recommendations for existing units, such as policies to ensure tenants at high risk for heat-related illness have the right to add cooling equipment and be able to operate it. The document also advocates the installation of window coverings, shade trees, insulation, solar reflective roofs and “wider adoption of fans,” which it highlights as a cheaper and more energy-efficient alternative to air conditioning since it costs about $400 to install a ceiling fan. – sky compared to $ 550 for window A / unit C.
Housing, environmental, and climate justice advocates have pushed the housing department to limit its recommendations for building standards for new construction. The fact that it may cost the landlord hundreds or even thousands of dollars to modify the unit is no reason to shy away from standards that are useful to protect people who are in unsafe situations in their own homes. However, the state should provide solutions, such as financial assistance to help property owners manage the cost of installing air conditioning for their tenants.
Extreme heat is the most dangerous climate hazard and killing approximately 3,900 Californians between 2010 and 2019, a Times analysis found. State health officials a total of 395 were killed during the 10-day heat wave alone in 2022. And scientists project that if global warming continues, in the middle century 11,300 Californians may die from heat-related causes every year.
Statewide standards are needed because extreme heat is putting California in harm’s way, and not just inland. People in the coastal areas of California which have a mild history are particularly vulnerable during heat waves, because they are not used to such high temperatures and are less likely to have air conditioning in their homes, and will be among the areas with the most to gain from the cooling requirements.
Kyle Krause, deputy director of Codes and Standards for Housing and Community Development, said the indoor cooling recommendations are not final and could still change before they are sent to the Legislature. good. They must be amended to make it clear to lawmakers and regulators that it is time for California’s health and safety protections to change with the climate. No one has life-threatening heatstroke inside the home, regardless of zip code or type of home.
