Overview:

-June heat wave illustrates the challenges Detroit renters face in buildings without central air.
-Detroit City Councilmember Mary Waters is exploring legislation or incentives to ensure all seniors have access to cooling.
-Under Detroit's ordinances, if a building has air conditioning, it must work correctly.

Kimberly Speight lives on the 14th floor of the Jefferson Apartments, where she said temperatures in her apartment climbed into the upper 80s when the air conditioning failed during a heat wave in late June.

The building’s management supplied a portable air conditioner within a day, Speight told Planet Detroit. 

“With a building this size, air conditioning is a must,” Speight said. “We do have a lot of older residents, some in wheelchairs, some on oxygen, so we definitely want to make sure that the AC works.” 

The high rise’s large glass windows and lack of shade make air conditioning especially important, she said. 

Another Jefferson Apartments resident told Planet Detroit their air conditioning is inoperable, four months after they said management told them it would be fixed.

The tenant, whose name is being withheld because of a policy at their workplace that bars speaking to the press, said air conditioning should be a requirement for all Detroit apartments.

Friedman Real Estate, which manages the property on behalf of a lender that foreclosed on the property, brought in 80 portable air conditioning units, set up cooling stations, and gave residents a rent credit, said Scott Shefman, president of the company.

The property’s chillers were repaired on Monday, July 7 and the air conditioning is functioning normally, Shefman said. He added that any units still experiencing problems with their air conditioning could call the building office and a technician would be dispatched to address the problem.

‘Let’s save lives’: expert warns about heat waves

At-Large Detroit City Councilmember Mary Waters is looking into cooling solutions for Detroiters, especially seniors who may be more vulnerable to extreme heat, said Thomas Choske, communications and policy lead in Waters’ office. 

Waters is considering either legislation or incentives for building owners and management companies “to ensure that all seniors have access to some form of adequate cooling,” Choske said.   

A Detroit ordinance requires that a building’s devices, equipment, and systems be operational, said Georgette Johnson, spokesperson for Detroit’s Buildings, Safety, Engineering, and Environmental Department.

“If they have an air conditioning system it must work,” she said.

Justin Schott, director of the nonprofit Energy Equity Project, said the city needs to do more to protect renters from heat as human-induced climate change drives higher temperatures. Other cities and states have recently passed laws to mandate that renters are allowed to put window units in their apartments and require cooled common areas in senior housing.

A 2021 heat wave study found that 47% of Detroit’s housing had no access to air conditioning or only window units.

Air conditioning needs to be treated as a basic condition for survivability, Schott said. He called attention to the 1995 Chicago heat wave, where several days of temperatures above 100 degrees Fahrenheit led to over 700 deaths.

“Do we really need to go down the same path in Detroit? Let’s save the lives before it happens,” he said.

U.S. heat deaths fluctuate over time, and show a marked increase after 2015, according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association. 2,325 people died from causes associated with heat according to provisional data from 2023, compared to 579 heat-related deaths in 2015.

Extreme heat is the nation’s biggest weather-related killer, according to the National Weather Service.

In Detroit, nighttime temperatures climbed significantly in recent decades, something that can be especially dangerous because hot nights don’t allow bodies time to recover, raising the risk of heat illness or death. Between 1970 and 2024, Detroit’s summer overnight temperatures increased by 5.6 degrees, according to Climate Central, a climate communication nonprofit.

Heat stress can exacerbate illnesses, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, asthma, and mental health issues, and heatstroke carries a high fatality rate, according to the World Health Organization. Adults over 65 years of age, infants and children, outdoor workers, pregnant people, and athletes are especially vulnerable to heat-related illness.  

Experts question effectiveness of cooling centers

Detroit opens cooling centers at recreation centers during extreme heat. Many people don’t use cooling centers because of the inconvenience of leaving home, the facilities’ limited hours, or worries about leaving pets behind in a hot house or apartment, said Tony Reames, an associate of environmental justice at the University of Michigan. Reames is a member of Planet Detroit’s advisory board.

Reporting by Grist in Seattle and Tampa Bay found that residents in those cities seldom visited cooling centers during heat waves. And a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report on cooling centers in Arizona’s Yuma and Maricopa counties found “barriers to cooling center access among older adults include awareness of location and transportation.”

Lewis Bass, a 74-year-old resident of New Center Plaza, which he said lacks central air conditioning, hasn’t used any of the cooling centers at Detroit recreation centers. He prefers to go to the library, Detroit Institute of Arts, or Fisher Building when it gets hot because these locations are relatively close to his apartment, he said. 

“I usually wind up going somewhere where it’s air conditioned and wait till the sun goes down and come back home,” Bass told Planet Detroit. 

Bass, who said he’s had a heart attack and stroke and is being treated for heart disease and diabetes, said he is unable to open his living room window because of trash being stored outside his building and fears someone could use a window unit to gain access to his apartment.

Ernest Smith, manager for the building, which is owned by Golden Management, denied there is an issue with garbage being stored near apartments in comments to Planet Detroit.

Bass said a portable air conditioner could allow him to cool his apartment because it would be easier to remove the exhaust tube when he’s not home or there are bad odors outside. He said he is unable to afford this kind of air conditioner, which can cost $500 or more, according to the New York Times.

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New laws, technology could help protect renters from extreme heat

To protect Detroiters from the mounting risks of extreme heat, experts say legislation, utility assistance, and new technologies may be needed.

Following the 2021 heat dome that led to hundreds of deaths in the Pacific Northwest, the Oregon legislature passed a law that prevents landlords from barring window units in apartment buildings. Oregon lawmakers are considering legislation to require owners of buildings with 10 or more units to provide cooling in at least one common area or at least one room of a tenant’s apartment, not including the bathroom.

Chicago City Council adopted a cooling ordinance in 2022 that requires large apartment buildings to provide at least one cooled common area for residents, while buildings for seniors  must cool all indoor common areas.

Reames, with U of M, said portable heat pump technology could provide renters with more energy efficient technology to cool or heat apartments.

These units could allow apartment buildings with hot-water heating systems, which are harder to retrofit, to decarbonize and provide tenants with electric heating and cooling, according to a report from the nonprofit American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy.

Even if Detroiters are provided with cooling options, those who pay their own electric bills may still have trouble paying to run air conditioners or heat pumps.

The Energy Equity Project’s Schott said Michigan should consider putting some of the funding from the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program toward cooling as some other states do. Michigan’s State Emergency Relief program can be used to help with summer cooling costs. 

“It just needs to be a basic standard that everybody has access to cooling,” Reames said.

Brian Allnutt is a senior reporter and contributing editor at Planet Detroit. He covers the climate crisis, environmental justice, politics and open space.