For some in Chatham-Kent, there is no way to beat the heat like we just experienced with our first heat wave of the summer.
Jeff Wilkins would love to see that change.
Wilkins, housing stability worker with the Chatham-Kent Legal Clinic, said there is no municipal bylaw in place to ensure tenants aren’t left in sweltering conditions inside their apartments.
He said the idea of a heat maximum bylaw was discussed four years ago in Chatham-Kent, but it did not even get before council.
“It didn’t go well four years ago. It was: ‘Who’s going to pay for it?’” he said.
Wilkins said for some tenants, if they have to foot the bill, they can’t afford it and will suffer through the extreme heat conditions as a result.
“You can’t pay if you’re on OW (Ontario Works) or ODSP (Ontario Disability Support Program), or a senior’s pension. They just can’t afford it,” he said.
However, with some landlords raising rent as much as 300 per cent post pandemic, he believes those landlords have the financial flexibility to cover the costs for air conditioning.
But he’s not holding his breath for provincial help for tenants on the matter.
“Doug Ford is very pro-landlord. You can tell with his legislation,” Wilkins said.
Bill 60 passed last fall by the Ford government and as of July 1, tenants can install their own air conditioners.
However, it comes at a price, one that the landlord appears to dictate.
The biggest sticking point is the wording used by the government in its legislation. It states tenants will be permitted to install window or portable A/C units where a landlord does not provide air conditioning, and if the landlord pays for the electricity, they “may charge a seasonal rent increase” and that “charges must not exceed actual or reasonably estimated electricity costs.”
Wilkins said the problem is what is reasonable? It may mean one thing to the tenant and another to the landlord.
He suggests to any tenant dealing with such a surcharge to put a meter on the air conditioner to measure electricity use. If usage does not line up with the landlord surcharge, the meter numbers can be taken to the Landlord-Tenant Board.
“It’s going to be a nightmare to figure this out,” Wilkins said.
What’s more, some area landlords have also attempted to jump the gun on the rent hikes for air conditioning.
“We got 14 calls in the last week. Landlords were looking to collect,” Wilkins said. “I’ve seen landlords ask for $350 per year. What they’re supposed to do is take May through the end of September – those months that are very, very hot – into account,” he said.
“We’re asking for $10-$15 a month,” Wilkins said, adding that’s only during the hottest months of the year.
There is at least one place in Canada, New Westminster, B.C., that has put in place a maximum heat bylaw. It passed the bylaw June 8, mandating that all rental units must have at least one living space with an indoor temperature of an average of 26C, between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m.
Wilkins sees that as good news, and predicts the effort to have heat maximums will gather, well, steam.
“There is a lot of momentum behind this now. A lot of these buildings (without air conditioning) have seniors now. They’re older buildings that hold the cold and the heat,” he said.
Toronto and Hamilton have been investigating heat maximum bylaws in recent years.
Extreme heat conditions inside a home can be a killer. In B.C. during a “heat dome” event in 2021, 619 people died due to the heat, according to a CBC report, which attributed a B.C. Coroner’s Report.
Here, Wilkins said it’s not as clear cut.
“It’s hard to determine if heat stroke is the cause of death. The coroner is going to say heart failure,” he said.
Wilkins said he keeps tabs on New Westminster, not just because of the heat maximum bylaw.
“They’re also the municipality that started the N-13 bylaw (renoviction bylaw),” he said. “We’re trying to follow their lead.”
Wilkins added tenant advocacy groups are starting to focus more and more on heat maximum issues.
“There’s quite a big movement. There are a lot of tenant organizations out there that are starting to spread the word,” Wilkins said, and Chatham-Kent personnel is aware of the concerns. “The municipality does recognize this and especially when their workers go into these buildings and feel the heat.”
