‘We’re not letting it go’: Advocates say government needs to do more to ensure people aren’t living in scorching hot apartments

A man carries a case of water bottles between the high rises of St. James Town in Toronto amid a heat wave, Wednesday, July 5, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston

In the wake of a sweltering heat wave in the Greater Toronto Area, tenant advocates and some lawmakers say more needs to be done to improve temperature regulations for rental units.

“If I didn’t have air conditioning, I don’t know what I’d do,” Christena Abbott told CP24 in a recent interview.

Abbott has asthma and relies on a floor-model air-conditioning unit in her apartment to be able to breathe properly in hot weather.

“We had three days of horrific hot weather. Even with my floor model, I had to turn the fans on,” Abbott said. “I had a heck of a time trying to cool off.”

An East York chapter leader for the tenants rights group ACORN, she said many other renters in the city don’t have AC units or may not be able to afford one – a situation she said is not just about comfort, but about safety.

“It’s live or die for some of these people,” Abbott said.

She shared some of the seniors she speaks with are dealing with the compounded health effects of the heat and lack of sleep.

“A lot of them are not sleeping because they can’t. It’s too hot. They’re over-tired. And that’s when you have accidents. That’s when you trip and fall,” Abbott said. “I have talked to a few people in my building, and you know, like, how many showers can you take to try and get your body temperature down?”

Temperatures soared across the GTA for several days in mid-June, feeling like the 40s with the humidity. While the sticky weather left many people uncomfortable, it also left others at risk for serious health issues.

According to Toronto Public Health, 42 people were treated in emergency rooms for heat-related health problems during the recent heat wave. But Ontario’s Office of the Chief Coroner says it’s difficult to track how many deaths are related to heat that may have exacerbated pre-existing conditions.

AC regulation not yet in effect

To some, the lack of regulation around temperatures makes no sense.

“I think that it’s negligent of the government,” MPP Catherine McKenney told CP24. “We can see today extreme heat kills, is deadly. And you know, right now, we know there are people stuck in apartments, in rental units, often older apartments without air conditioning, and it’s intolerable and it’s dangerous.”

McKenney, who serves as the Ontario NDP’s shadow minister for housing, pointed out that the government passed a bill two years ago that strengthened tenant rights around air conditioning, but never brought the provisions into effect.

In 2023, Bill 97 gave renters the right to install air conditioning units if they were not provided by their landlord.

The rule came with some stipulations, such as requiring a tenant to notify the landlord in writing and to allow for a rent increase to cover the extra hydro costs if the landlord is responsible for electricity payments.

But while the bill passed, McKenney said, the province has still not proclaimed that part of it, meaning the rule is not yet in effect.

Ontario’s Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing did not return emails asking why. Nor did the minister’s office.

Some have expressed concern around the safety of air conditioning units that may be installed in windows. Back in 2019, a child died when a poorly installed AC unit fell from the window of a Toronto Community Housing building.

However Bill 97 requires tenants to ensure the unit has been “safely and securely” installed.

McKenney pointed out a right to air conditioning in one’s home is also necessary because there is no requirement for landlords to provide a safe cooling space in a heat wave – be it a recreation room or a lobby – and not all municipalities run cooling centres.

“There is nothing. There is no requirement for air-conditioned space, for safe space during extreme heat,” they said.

Toronto working on max heat bylaw

Other efforts are underway at the city level to try and help protect renters from extreme heat.

Coun. Shelley Carroll moved a motion in 2023 for the city to review its temperature bylaws after visiting residential buildings in her ward where tenants “were being virtually cooked in their own homes.”

Carroll was not available for an interview but her office referred to a recent blog post she wrote on the subject.

“The room where I met with tenants was so unbearably hot that I struggled to think clearly—and I wasn’t even the one living there every day,” she wrote.

The city is currently looking to implement a maximum heat bylaw which would require landlords to make sure that temperatures stay under 27 C in rental units during the summer months.

City staff are currently gathering more information and are expected to report back to council with recommendations around the bylaw later this year.

In the meantime, Carroll pointed out the city has a pilot program to provide free portable air conditioning units to eligible low-income seniors who have health conditions that can be worsened by extreme heat.

The program is not able to provide AC units to all applicants, and uses a lottery system to determine who gets one.

For Abbott, that falls short. She said any senior or person with medical issues that can be made worse by heat should receive an AC unit.

“This is a pilot project. We’re not letting it stop there. We’re gonna push and push and push,” she said.

“We’re not letting it go. This is too important.”

- With files from The Canadian Press