As heat waves intensify, more public housing residents may get help with AC bills

By Jennifer Ludden

Thursday, July 4, 2024 • 4:00 PM EDT

The summer has already been a scorcher and heat alerts across the country could lead to more records broken. Public housing residents, many elderly, children or sick, are disproportionately vulnerable to heat illness, yet there’s no federal mandate to provide them air conditioning.

In fact, until last month the Department of Housing and Urban Development allowed local housing agencies to subsidize tenants’ heating bills, but — with some exceptions — explicitly said they could not pay for cooling bills.

New guidance changes that, though critics say it still falls short.

“We must protect the health and safety of our families during increasingly severe weather events, like extreme heat, that can cause grave harm and even death to any member of our community,” said HUD Acting Secretary Adrianne Todman in a statement announcing the change last month.

Several public housing residents were among the hundreds who died when a heat wave struck the Pacific Northwest in 2021. Last year, Portland public housing resident Beth Vansmith told NPR she remembers how awful she felt at that time, with no air conditioner and temperatures soaring up to 116.

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"I would get dizzy. I would get nauseous. You know, I'd lose my appetite completely, and it was just so miserably hot," she said.

Much public housing was built before central air was common, and at a time when it was not necessary in many parts of the country. Yet even as climate-fueled heat waves grow more intense and frequent, public housing residents who want an AC unit must buy it themselves. And some who do often hesitate to use it because of the added cost to their electric bill.

Now, local housing agencies will be allowed to subsidize cooling costs during a severe heat period. HUD has spelled out its own definition of that: two to three days of intense heat and humidity, with temperatures reaching at least 90 degrees. But local agencies can decide on their own definition of what will trigger cooling subsidies.

“We are providing maximum local control and decision-making for an issue that impacts more and more communities across the country each year,” said Richard Monocchio, with HUD’s Office of Public and Indian Housing.

Still, the change comes with other caveats that critics say could limit its impact.

Paying for cooling costs is not required, and tenants must ask for the help

“This is a very small step,” says Daniel Carpenter-Gold, a staff attorney with the Public Health Law Center in St. Paul, Minn. “It doesn't do anything if the resident doesn't have air conditioning or some other form of cooling.”

For those who do have their own AC, Carpenter-Gold says there’s still no mandate to subsidize cooling costs. Local agencies will simply have the option to do that. And — crucially — the burden is on a tenant to ask for the help.

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Carpenter-Gold says a public housing agency is functionally a landlord, inherently a tricky relationship, and that could make this a hard ask for some people. What’s more, he says it’s not clear how the message of this new option will be put out to people.

“They might not get the notice in the first place that this is a thing,” he says. “And the residents might not apply in time for them to actually feel like they can turn on their AC … when the heat strikes.”

Even agencies eager to help will need to come up with a whole new system to approve and organize payments, he says, but many of them are cash-strapped and understaffed.

In 2022, the Public Health Law Center and other groups petitioned HUD to subsidize cooling costs for all tenants, just as it does for heating. Carpenter-Gold says HUD could make that change on its own, but it would be a long, bureaucratic process to get done.

In the meantime, a growing number of local housing agencies have scrambled to find funding on their own to provide air-conditioning for tenants. And some are tapping into funding for clean energy retrofits that President Biden pushed Congress to pass.

HUD is encouraging agencies to switch to solar or heat pumps, which can reduce not only carbon emissions but also tenants’ bills. And its new heat guide also touts painting roofs and sidewalks white and constructing shady areas around buildings. Those things can help bring down overall temperatures, even if residents don’t have AC in their apartments.

Transcript

AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:

This summer's been a scorcher. A little relief may be in sight for public housing, though. The Biden administration just this month announced that local housing authorities can pay for residents' air conditioning. That's right. They haven't been allowed to do that before now. NPR's Jennifer Ludden is here to explain. Hi, Jennifer.

JENNIFER LUDDEN, BYLINE: Hey, Ayesha.

RASCOE: So this might be a surprise to some listeners that public housing agencies have not been allowed to pay for cooling. What's the reasoning behind that?

LUDDEN: Yeah, it does seem odd these days. But, you know, first of all, most public housing buildings are decades old. They were built before central air was really common. And this policy is decades old back to when, in a lot of the country, you really did not need air conditioning. So it has meant that agencies can subsidize people's heating bills. But if residents want to get an AC unit, they have to buy it themselves. And with some exceptions, residents largely pay for that extra electricity themselves.

If utilities are included with rent, this means a surcharge. And, you know, for people with extremely low incomes, even a small bit extra every month can be too much. So a lot of people don't use their AC to save money. And this is especially dangerous because public housing residents are disproportionately vulnerable to extreme heat. Many of them are seniors or children, or they have chronic health problems. Back in 2021, this got a lot of attention because seven people in public housing died in a heat wave in Portland, Ore.

RASCOE: So what is the new guidance from the Biden administration?

LUDDEN: Basically, it says, during a period of extreme heat, public housing agencies are now allowed to pay for an individual residents' cooling cost - not an AC unit, just the utility bill. But this is an option, not a mandate, and the resident has to ask for that help. Now, the Department of Housing and Urban Development defined what it means by extreme heat event. It says that's a period of severe heat and humidity with temperatures 90 degrees or more for at least two to three days, but local agencies can use their own definition of what will trigger these payments. Now, HUD officials say this is going to let people use AC when they need it without risking heat-related illness, knowing they don't have to worry about cutting back on food or medicine in order to just stay cool.

RASCOE: But as you say, this is only an option, and public housing authorities are not required to pay for AC. So how much difference will this make?

LUDDEN: I spoke with Daniel Carpenter-Gold with the Public Health Law Center. He says, OK, it is good HUD has taken this step, but he calls it a very small step and worries it won't change much. For one thing, it doesn't do anything for people who don't already have AC. And for those who do, he says the agency is basically their landlord. So that can be a tricky relationship, and it might be a hard ask for some people. And Carpenter-Gold says, we don't know how this message is going to be put out to tenants.

DANIEL CARPENTER-GOLD: They might not get the notice in the first place that this is a thing. And the residents might not apply in time for them to actually feel like they can turn on their AC or whatever they have when the heat strikes.

LUDDEN: He also says agencies will need to come up with a whole system for approving and organizing these payments, but many of them are cash-strapped. They're understaffed. And he says, look, there's a much simpler way. There already are federal subsidies for heating bills. So his group and others have petitioned to get Washington to include cooling costs in the summer for everybody. Of course, that would be a long, bureaucratic process to get done.

RASCOE: I'm curious - how does clean energy fit into all this? President Biden got Congress to approve massive funding for communities to switch to heat pumps and solar. Is there money for local public housing agencies to do something like that?

LUDDEN: Yes, there is, and the administration is pushing this for public housing, absolutely. They say that, you know, for people with very low incomes, this not only reduces planet-warming emissions. It brings down their utility bills. But only a sliver of that funding that Congress approved is for public housing. Carpenter-Gold, the analyst, says that for a real solution here, he'd like to see Congress devote a much larger chunk, specifically for these retrofits in public housing.

RASCOE: NPR's Jennifer Ludden, thank you so much.

LUDDEN: Thank you.