“Unfortunately, people are struggling. However we can implement this, it needs to be done.”
It’s summertime, but the livin’ ain’t easy.
That’s the message a tenants’ rights advocacy group is hoping to send to the city as they push for a heat protection bylaw in apartments and rental units.
Amid one of the hottest summers in Calgary’s history, representatives of Alberta ACORN (the Calgary-based branch of a national renters’ union of the same name) are urging the city to adopt heat protection regulations that would require landlords to keep the temperature in their rental units to a maximum of 26 C.
Alberta ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) organized a small rally in front of an apartment in the Beltline on Wednesday. A handful of members picketed in the shade to promote their cause as temperatures neared 30 C.
Abi Martin, a member of the group, said the rally was part of ACORN’s Beat the Heat campaign, which calls on the city to take urgent action to protect low-income tenants and other vulnerable tenants from extreme heat.
“It does get well over 30 degrees in my suite and a lot of people in my building — seniors, people with disabilities — are struggling with the heat and can’t even afford (an air conditioner),” said Martin, who uses they/them pronouns.
ACORN also wants the city to make temporary cooling measures available in apartment buildings for the remainder of this summer, such as setting up a designated space that is air-conditioned.
“ACORN is hoping the city can do their job,” Martin said. “People are struggling. I’m not a council member, I’m not a political scientist. ACORN is a group of low- to moderate-income people with a lot of diverse needs who are being ignored at multiple levels of government.
“However we can implement this, it needs to be done.”
The renters’ rights group also wants the city to develop a program that supports low-income tenants with the cost to run an air conditioning unit, and to track heat-related deaths and illnesses in Calgary.
“Anywhere after 26 C, especially if you’re dealing with physical illness or if you’re elderly, can create major cardiovascular stress and is quite dangerous,” Martin said.
“While it’s an expensive endeavour, we need the help. Canadians, Albertans and Calgarians will continue to die, and that’s why we’re demanding that we have a maximum heat bylaw.”
A city spokesperson told Postmedia the municipality does not have bylaws related to the regulation of temperatures in housing units. Direction for staff to implement such a requirement would be up to council.
Typically, that process would start with a notice of motion from council to direct staff to explore the feasibility of such a bylaw.
Ward 7 Coun. Terry Wong, whose ward encompasses downtown, said he met with ACORN representatives on Friday to discuss the issue.
He said protecting residents from the elements and implementing public safety measures are a shared responsibility between different levels of governments, but that rules regulating rental unit requirements fall more under the province’s Residential Tenancies Act than municipal responsibility.
Nevertheless, Wong said the city could take some action, such as ensuring that building safety codes are enforced to meet proper ventilation requirements.
“But in terms of an actual bylaw to mandate that landlords maintain a temperature below 26 C or above 15 C in the wintertime — it’s a hard thing to do,” he said.
Adding to the complexity of the issue, Wong said, is the fact so many of Calgary’s apartment buildings were built in the 1940s or 1950s, and may not have adequate insulation.
“To put a bylaw in place forcing pre-1970s buildings to undergo major renovations to conserve heat or retain a cool temperatures is unreasonable,” he said.