As heat waves get worse, air conditioning has come to feel like a must-have even in parts of the U.S. that historically haven’t needed it. Those who live in public housing are especially vulnerable to the heat — they’re not just low-income, but also disproportionately older, people of color, chronically ill and often living in hotter neighborhoods that lack shade from tree cover. And yet even as extreme heat becomes more common, it remains a struggle for many tenants to get AC.
The actual AC issue aside, I feel that this is a good argument for some urban redevelopment to plant more area/climate appropriate trees. It would provide shade and provide some offset for the CO2 emissions. Getting shade between the sun and the buildings would help make the heat more tolerable and getting some shade over the roadways and parking lots would help decrease urban heat bubble effects.
Much public housing is decades old, built before central air was widely available, and it would be incredibly expensive to add it now. Many tenants get an allowance for utilities that includes heat, but federal rules actually specify that it not cover air conditioning. Residents are allowed to get their own AC units, but Deborah Thrope, of the National Housing Law Project, says most must pay for it and the monthly bills themselves.
It should be mandatory in every building. Landlords should be on the hook for it, they get away with such murder.
