Hamilton councillors are expected to rubber-stamp the expansion of an air conditioner subsidy program in June that will aid low-income households considered “most vulnerable to heat.”
Public health committee members voted 13 to 1 in favour of broadening the $350 subsidy that up until Monday was limited to Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) and Ontario Works recipients with a medical condition.
A report from the healthy environments division suggested that up to $52,500 from the city’s $2.5-million Climate Change Reserve Fund be earmarked for 200 people who qualify under Hamilton’s Heat Response Strategy.
The rationale behind the strategy surrounds a city science report that predicts one or more consecutive days of temperatures rising above 30 C, constituting heat waves.
The subsidy draws on changes to the province’s Residential Tenancies Act via Bill 97, which OKs the installation and use of window or portable air conditioners in a rental unit where the landlord does not supply cooling.
Environment Hamilton director Ian Borsuk, who sits on the city’s Extreme Heat Working Group, says the “modest” expansion won’t impact current tax spending since the money had already been put aside for the initiative.
“We’re going to be looking at no more than roughly 200 new AC units for seniors and people with disabilities who otherwise would be at risk of going to the hospital, taking up space in the ER because of heat exposure,” Borsuk said.
Ward 8 Coun. John Paul Danko, the single committee member who voted against the idea, says his concerns centre around a term of council he defines as having “disdain for taxpayers and no financial responsibility.”
He told Global News that building shade structures, opening cooling spaces, and offering free swims and splash pads are more in line with the city’s responsibility, not providing air conditioners to residents.
“So those are all examples of responsible city infrastructure that I think is part of our mandate as a municipality to make sure that people, when it is hot out, that people have somewhere to go,” Danko said.
He suggests conditions brought on by extreme heat are a health-care matter and should fall on the provincial government.
“We should be requesting that program to be expanded by the provincial government,” he insisted.
“That is not something that should be picked up by municipal taxpayers.”
A maximum temperature bylaw is next up for council, based on a staff report last year recommending priorities and timelines for the development of laws to protect vulnerable tenants against extreme heat.
If passed, it would be the first of its kind in Canada and require landlords to keep unit temperatures below 26 C by installing AC in buildings or providing individual access to window units.
Danko believes that bylaw for renters fits under city mandates, but wonders about staffing costs and the practicality of retrofitting buildings.
A motion from Ward 2 Coun. Cameron Kroetsch called for the development of the bylaw and refers some costs to the 2024 Tax Supported Operating Budget process.
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