Those of us with air conditioning survived last week in our climate-controlled coolness. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case for everyone in Chatham-Kent.
For anyone who thinks the vast majority of our homeless choose to be out on the streets, this is a prime example of when they’d prefer to be anywhere but living in a tent or a tarp. Good luck getting any sleep when overnight temperatures are in 25C or even higher.
And then there are the people who live indoors without air conditioning. For some, it’s due to financial reasons. Choosing between putting food on the table and keeping it nice and cool indoors is a decision between survival and extreme discomfort.
But when temperatures reach the levels we felt last week, the high heat indoors can impact one’s survivability as well.
Heat stroke claims lives. And some Chatham-Kent residents don’t even have the choice of cooling off anywhere within their residence. They’re not alone. Basically only one municipality across the country has enacted a heat-maximum bylaw – where landlords must ensure all tenants have at least one room (not the bathroom) where the maximum temperature cannot exceed 26C.
Such a bylaw is badly needed here, more so than New Westminster, B.C., where the bylaw actually exists.
We live in the hottest part of the country. Some may say we’re used to these scorching events, but tell that to people who suffer through it without air conditioning. It’s a struggle indeed.
The Ford government recently enacted legislation that allows tenants to install in-window or portable air conditioners, which is great news.
However, the question is who will pay for the electricity use, and how much? If you live in an apartment where electricity use is factored into the rent, the landlord can increase that rent during the summer months. To what level is very ambiguous in the legislation, which states landlords “may charge a seasonal rent increase” and that “charges must not exceed actual or reasonably estimated electricity costs.”
Who determines “reasonably estimated electricity costs” when there is a dispute? Will this lead to a plethora of tenant gouging? Will disputes flood the already overworked Landlord Tenant Board?
Stay tuned.
