City on the Edge: Climate Change and New York City
Differing Perspectives: Should NYC Tenants Have a Right to Air Conditioning?
In New York City, landlords are required to provide heating from October to May. But there's no similar mandate for combating heat in homes during the summer months—though a recent bill in the City Council could change that.
Councilmember Lincoln Restler's proposal would require that property owners who rent to tenants maintain a maximum indoor temperature of 78°F when the outdoor air temperature is 82°F or higher, from June 15 to Sept. 15. "Owners without central cooling would have to install cooling systems within residential units," the bill reads.
On City Limits' opinion pages, Isabel Friedman of the Natural Resources Defense Council and Caleb Smith of WE ACT for Environmental Justice say the bill is the right move for a city grappling with the impact of climate change, and a way to address inequities in the effects of deadly extreme heat. "This is not about comfort, it’s about survival amidst a changing climate and continuously rising temperatures," the authors write.
But the proposed legislation has its critics. Joseph Strasburg, former president of the Rent Stabilization Association (now renamed the New York Apartment Association) says putting the costs of cooling on property owners would impact their ability to comply with incoming city mandates to lower building emissions, and argues in favor of a pilot program to test out the requirements instead. Read the opeds below.
Opinion: Permanent Housing is the Way Forward as Communities Overheat
“While it becomes more dangerous to live outside without reprieve from the heat, the city has doubled down on penalizing the homeless instead of focusing on housing initiatives.”
