The L.A. County Board of Supervisors approved a series of changes to keep things cooler for residents in rental units of the unincorporated areas after nearly four hours of discussion Tuesday.
The idea was to use the county’s health and safety code to implement a phased approach at a single maximum indoor temperature threshold, requiring all landlords to make sure all habitable rooms can be cooled to 82 degrees. There also were “displacement provisions,” tenant protections and a plan to incentivize landlords.
County officials said they’re trying to cut down on heat-related illnesses, which can include everything from heat cramps to exhaustion to even heat stroke, which can be deadly.
“Nighttime heat matters,” according to a slide presented Tuesday, which stated deaths from all causes may be up 10% higher on hot nights compared to nights without elevated temperatures. And the data indicates that those most vulnerable, including disadvantaged children and the elderly who rent, are more likely to be impacted.
“Tenants generally supported establishing such an ordinance — landlords were generally less enthusiastic,” said Dr. Azar Kattan, deputy director of L.A. County Public Health, during a staff presentation. “Both had concerns about cost.”
Tenants had concerns about the costs required for keeping all their rooms cooled, while landlords expressed concerns about retrofit costs. There also was concern it could create a loss of affordable housing.
There were also enforcement concerns; tenants expressed concern a complaint might be difficult to prove, and landlords feared the complaints would be used by problem tenants to harass them.
Under this new law, some tenants questioned whether usage of the now-supplied air conditioners would be mandatory. And would the HVAC units be mandated in cooler coastal rental areas, too?
After considering all of these concerns, Kattan said, the county came up with a threshold of 82 degrees, which is the landlord’s responsibility to make possible.
“There’s no ‘right’ temperature, and this kind of falls in the mid-range of what other jurisdictions have done and matches the state recommendation,” Kattan said, adding the rules were meant as a balance between economy, equity and the environment.
The ordinance also states tenants can add additional cooling through portable cooling devices, such as air conditioners, which requires notification to the landlord and prohibits the landlord from retaliating.
What’s unique about the county’s rules is that they apply to new and existing homes, with Kattan stating that implementing the threshold for existing homes is “charting new territory.”
Supervisor Hilda Solis called it an issue that comes with a high degree of irritability and illness, adding that’s why she asked county staff to take up the issue.
Supervisor Janice Hahn supported the idea, but also suggested an amendment as a compromise for smaller landlords, meaning those with fewer than 10 units, who would be required to maintain at least one habitable room at the 82-degree threshold.
In an effort to prevent landlords with 10 or fewer units from being overburdened financially, her amendment requires those buildings to make at least one habitable room available at 82 degrees by 2027. That’s when the temperature rules take effect for all other buildings, but small landlords have four additional years to get all rooms in compliance.
L.A. County 5th District Supervisor Kathryn Barger mentioned the same concern in a statement Monday. She did not attend Tuesday’s meeting due to the funeral of Deputy William Osborn, who was one of three Arson and Explosives Unit detectives killed in an explosion last month.
Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said the “cooling room” compromise creates two tiers of housing and asks vulnerable families to all sleep together in one cooled room, which isn’t “equitable or fair.”
Horvath then asked for a sunset date on the cooling room exceptions, which Hahn agreed to setting in 2032. She initially called for the elimination of the cooling room but then held off after public comment supported the idea.
Solis likened the series of compromises for small landlords as “making sausage,” referring the popular metaphor for how laws are made, then adding, “and I don’t like the taste of the sausage.”
But ultimately, after hearing from the public on calls for at least one room of relief, Solis acquiesced to the cooling-room compromise from Hahn.
Barbara Ferrer, director of county Public Health, said the goal with the phased approach was to incentivize compliance and inform landlords, not to push for compliance through fines.
