Tenant organization calls on city to implement maximum heat bylaw

Ottawa ACORN is once again renewing its calls to the City of Ottawa to implement a maximum heat bylaw as temperatures continue to intensify.

Environment and Climate Change Canada’s weather outlook is predicting a hotter-than-normal summer across Ottawa, but many residents are left without a place to keep cool.

Many buildings in Ottawa still don’t contain air conditioning, and the cost of installing some is out of reach for many low and middle-income residents.

According to a new report from the tenant organization ACORN, 44 per cent of low- to moderate-income tenants lack air conditioning in their units, with affordability cited as the main barrier to access. An additional 54 per cent of tenants cited extreme summer heat as their primary maintenance issue.

“I asked (my landlord) to replace the AC in my unit because it’s too old but they wouldn’t replace it. Because it’s so inefficient, it has to be kept running all the time and I end up paying a much higher hydro bill,” an Ottawa ACORN member said in a press release. They should change the AC unit but they won’t and it’s extremely hot with repeated heat waves.”

ACORN Canada is calling on the federal government to leverage the financing that would require the province to implement a series of tenant protections. One of these protections is requiring municipalities to implement a maximum heat bylaw.

The City of Ottawa requires landlords to maintain a minimum temperature of 16.67 C at night and 20 C during the day in the winter. But there is currently no bylaw in place for a maximum temperature in the summer.

Some tenant organizations are asking for a maximum heat bylaw capped at 26 C, but the city has yet to respond.