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Two fans blowing constantly through Steph Shaver’s apartment do little to reduce the temperature, which a digital thermometer in her living room reads as 31 C.
Shaver works from home at her Langside Street apartment building. Like many older buildings, it doesn’t have central air conditioning.
Opening the windows would normally offer some relief, but Shaver got a notice Monday saying the Winnipeg building is replacing its window screens. That is forcing tenants to remove window air conditioning units and keep windows shut until the work is finished.
That leaves Shaver to rely on fans and cold showers to stay cool during an extreme Manitoba heat wave that saw temperatures rise into the mid-30s over the weekend.
“It’s really hot,” she said. “I’ve been having trouble sleeping at night, just doing everyday tasks. I basically need to bring my fan around my apartment with me right now. So, it’s been a little bit rough.”
Experiences like Shaver’s have fuelled calls for governments to regulate maximum indoor temperatures in residential buildings. Some Canadian cities, including Toronto and Hamilton in Ontario, have proposed bylaws that would set a maximum indoor temperature of 26 C, while New Westminster, B.C., passed a maximum temperature bylaw in June.
Shaver supports the idea.
“I definitely think … the temperature is getting hotter and hotter here. That’s becoming a must because, you know … people are dying, unfortunately, from this,” she said.
Lee Webb, director of client services with the Canadian Centre for Housing Rights, said Toronto already requires apartment buildings without in-suite air conditioning to provide residents with access to cooled indoor amenity spaces at 26 C. If a building doesn’t have a common amenity space, landlords must direct residents to the nearest indoor air-conditioned space.
Toronto city council also voted last month to have staff draft a bylaw that would require landlords to keep rental units at a maximum indoor temperature of 26 C by 2027.
“I think that all jurisdictions should make sure that they have rules in place that allow tenants to have a reasonable standard of living and quality of life in their homes,” Webb said.
Governments could help offset the costs of retrofitting older apartment buildings through rebates or adjusting above-guideline rent increase rules.
Stefan Hodges, housing co-ordinator with the West Broadway Community Organization, says the issue is especially urgent in that neighbourhood, where about 93 per cent of people rent their homes. Many residents live in older buildings without modern heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, he said.
“We definitely would like to see some regulation around maintaining adequate temperatures in buildings, but I think that that needs to come with a longer plan about how we’re going to support the introduction of HVAC systems into buildings,” Hodges said.
Hodges says governments should offer funding to help building owners cover the costs of retrofits while preventing those costs from being passed on to tenants through higher rents.
Increased costs
The head of the Professional Property Managers Association of Manitoba says it agrees with the goal of protecting tenants but worries about the potential costs.
“Theoretically, philosophically, morally, [I am] 100 per cent onside,” association president Avrom Charach said.
The cost of installing through-the-wall air conditioning units can range between $2,500 and $3,000 per suite. Heritage buildings can present a challenge because of regulations prohibiting the defacing of exteriors.
Government support would be essential, Charach said.
“We’re happy to do it as long as it doesn’t end up completely putting us out of business by doing improvements.”
Upcoming changes to the Residential Tenancies Act could make it harder for landlords to pay for upgrades, Charach said.
Bill 13, which will be debated in the legislature this fall, would reduce the amount of money from capital improvements landlords can recoup through above-guideline rent increases by half. Charach says that would effectively double the amount of time it takes to pay for the work.
The Manitoba government declined to give CBC News a statement, citing blackout rules in effect because of this month’s provincial byelection in The Pas-Kameesak.
Mayor Scott Gillingham says the city has expanded splash pad hours, opened libraries and community centres as cooling spaces, funded 24/7 safe spaces and invested in Winnipeg’s tree canopy to help residents cope with extreme heat.
A bylaw establishing a maximum indoor temperature deserves consideration, he said at an unrelated event Tuesday, noting council has recently discussed requiring developers to include air conditioning in new rental units.
Shaver says hotter summers mean safe indoor temperatures are becoming a basic requirement for healthy housing.
“[Landlords] are sort of falling short of that stewardship because they’re no longer providing an inhabitable place when the temperature can be as hot as it is.”
