LA Board Of Supes Proposes Maximum Indoor Temperatures For Apartments During Warm Months
‘The Board is not looking at the whole picture’
By Evan Symon, January 25, 2024 5:36 pm
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved an ordinance this week that would set up a maximum indoor temperature threshold for rental units during hot months of the year.
According to Supervisors Hilda Solis and Lindsey Horvath, the ordinance would help residents to not experience discomfort because of high temperatures, and, most critically, to not be in medical danger for days when the temperature goes into the 90s and above. They also noted that because of climate change, the number days with a temperature above 94 degrees in L.A. is going to go up in the next few decades from an average of 7 days to an average of 21 days a year.
Thus they brought forward an ordinance this week. While the ordinance would establish a single maximum indoor temperature threshold
for dwellings, it would also require that all rental housing be cooling ready so that there is a code-compliant and safe way for a tenant to add air conditioning.
“Extreme heat is the deadliest climate risk facing Los Angeles County,” said supervisors Horvath and Solis. “In units where air conditioning is not provided by the landlord, tenants should be able to install air conditioning without fear of eviction or retaliation. The proposed ordinance should enshrine tenants with a right to responsibly and safely further cool their dwellings at their own cost.”
Horvath also added, “A maximum threshold for heat in people’s living conditions for obvious reasons. Climate change has really changed the game for us in Los Angeles County. Landlords could figure out what they would need to do to keep the apartments cool and not all would need new air conditioners. Some could use insulation or other upgrades. That’s why we built in stakeholder engagement as part of our direction and process. We are proactively telling our staff to go out and work with stakeholders to understand the challenges that they’re facing and get their advice on how this can be implemented.”
While the ordinance was approved on Tuesday, it is not yet set in stone. For one, agencies need to come back with a draft ordinance within 180 days that would establish what the safe maximum indoor temperature actually is and if it is to be part of the health code. That would require another vote because of it being updated. Landlord and rental groups, who have been in fierce opposition to the ordinance because of associated costs, hope to have it blocked there, or will bring up legal action against having maximum indoor temperatures for rental units on the books. Specifically, this would hurt “mom and pop” landlords who typically own older buildings that don’t always come with AC units.
A new maximum indoor temperature threshold ordinance
“The types of upgrades discussed in the motion potentially require significant capital expenditure, building rehabilitation and will have a financial impact on residents,” the California Apartment Association said in a letter this week.
“And invariably these older buildings are owned by retirees, senior citizens and after four years of limited or no rent increases and problems collecting rent because of the eviction moratoriums, rental property owners are reeling,” said Daniel Yukelson with the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles. “In the older buildings it would likely be much more than simply installing new units. And with new electrical panels, often that requires new wiring from the pole and in some areas you have to underground wiring and it’s just a major cost. It could cost upwards of $50,000 for a four-unit building.”
The lone no vote in Board vote, Supervisor Kathryn Barger, echoed the concerns of the landlords on Wednesday.
“All of us agree that costs are going up, and they’re going up for landlords as well. We’re holding them responsible for maintenance on their facilities and this is just another burden – another cost on them. The air conditioning ordinance would likely force smaller landlords to sell to corporations. A trend that is happening statewide. My biggest fear is that the mom and pops are going to be disproportionally impacted and, in the end, it’s not going to serve the people who are renting because the costs are going to go up.”
Others told the Globe on Thursday that while there are still options to ensure that the ordinance doesn’t go into the books, something will need to be done soon to spare renters and landlords alike from these upcoming costs.
“The Board is not looking at the whole picture,” Andy Gomez, a contractor and consultant in HVAC projects in the Inland Empire, told the Globe. “In LA, where I work sometimes, a lot of times you don’t need air conditioning for older units. Fans, or if they can be put in, swamp coolers do the trick because of how units are laid out. A maximum temperature law needs to take a lot of things into account. Does the unit face the sun? How many windows are in the unit? Can electric fans sufficiently cool down an apartment. Does the tenant need to have temperatures above the proposed maximum for health reasons or any other reasons? Does a pet there need higher temperatures to live? And so many more. The Board isn’t looking at all the variables, or giving exemptions or leeway. They need to put this all on paper and not just rush to something that is going to screw people over just because they wanted that ordinance passed.”
The maximum temperature ordinance is currently planned for final approval sometime during the summer.
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What do these people really want? To see more mom and pop landlords fail? Even more than they did during the rent moratorium during fake Covid when housing providers were totally screwed over and taken advantage of by well-compensated (by govt) tenant lawyers?
These particular supervisors are all over the place. First they want NO air conditioning, for anybody, ever, because of their false premise of “climate change” —- that AC will make it worse, etc.; and now they want to shove a strangling one-size-fits-all template over every apartment in L.A. County so that landlords must jump to their dictates of making the place AC-ready whether it is necessary or not?
I lived in mid-Wilshire L.A. apartments for 15 years and fans were sufficient. Why not let landlord and tenant work it out alone between themselves if AC is necessary? Haven’t you L.A. County Supervisors, and Lindsay Horvath and Hilda Solis in particular, done enough damage with your endless butting in and micromanaging and trying to pass ordinances to cover every single step a person who is unfortunate enough to live in L.A. County takes? Please! Knock it off and get a life.
Anyone who has lived in LA County knows that it has one of the most perfect climates in the world and that air conditioning is rarely needed? According to Democrat Supervisors Hilda Solis and Lindsey Horvath, the ordinance would help residents to not experience discomfort because of high temperatures and they also noted that because of climate change, the number days with a temperature above 94 degrees in L.A. is going to go up in the next few decades from an average of 7 days to an average of 21 days a year. Really? Who are these two Democrat supervisors and what makes them climate experts? Democrat Supervisor Hilda Solis has a Master of Public Administration degree and she has worked her entire adult career in Democrat politics going from one political office to another and being a burden on taxpayers. Democrat Supervisor Lindsey Horvath moved to LA after graduating from Notre Dame with a Bachelor of Arts in political science and gender studies. She founded the Hollywood chapter of the National Organization for Women, she was appointed to the Women’s Advisory Board for West Hollywood in 2007, she was appointed to the West Hollywood City Council after the death Councilman Sal Guarriello in 2009, she was chosen to be mayor for two terms by the West Hollywood City Council, and she was installed to replace Sheila Kuehl on the LA County Board of Supervisors in 2021. Clearly neither one of these two Democrat twits are climate experts and no doubt they are getting paid off to push this climate change nonsense by outside sources?
Love it!
Anything to harm people. The strategies come and go but the goal remains the same.
How do the authoritarian, totalitarian and Marxist Democrat dictators on the LA County Board of Supervisors plan to enforce this insane ordinance? No doubt they plan to establish a new county climate change department and hire an army of climate thugs to force non-complying landlords into submission while hiring more city lawyers to sue non-complying landlords into oblivion?
Contrary to the Peace & Love Doctrine, sometimes well-placed rounds — bullets — *are* the answer.
This literally makes no sense. Tenants are responsible for their own utility costs and can run their AC’s accordingly.
How does govt. involvement do anything here other than needless distort market signals?
Window A/C s sales in LA might be on the increase.
Will this mean that renters will be forced to run the AC even if they cannot afford it? Or does this mean landlords will be forced to install AC and pay for it to operate?
Note – this is part of an agenda that also allows the government to set minimum temps in homes, outlaw peeling paint, weed heights, etc, etc.
Oooh, so glad you brought this up, CW.
I was shocked to learn years ago that the peeling paint and overgrown lawn code compliance stuff is a way for the city to issue unaffordable fines that increase exponentially with owner non-payment, at which point a lien is put on the affected property with the goal that the city eventually gets the property.
Such fine, compassionate, care government people! —- usually Dem/Marxists, by the way.
It is called Property Maintenance Codes and it is totally Communist. One of the worst parts of it is that these cities think they can invade your home without a warrant to verify the temperature in your spare bedroom and fine you if it is not warm enough.