The Spokesman Review
Spokane landlords soon may no longer ban air conditioning units during the worst summer heat
A new law under consideration would make it illegal for landlords to ban tenants from installing air conditioning units in Spokane rentals during dangerously hot weather.
Some advocates for renters, however, worry that the proposed ordinance sponsored by City Council President Betsy Wilkerson and Councilwoman Kitty Klitzke has too many loopholes to help those who most need it.
Under the ordinance introduced Monday, landlords could not restrict the installation of a portable air conditioner into a rental unit at any time that the National Weather Service has issued a heat-related alert.
The ordinance is not appearing out of thin air. As recently as 2016, for example, leases for the Wolfe and New Washington apartments in downtown Spokane, home to dozens of the city’s poorest, banned the installation of air conditioners, according to reporting by the Inlander. In a 2022 feature, the paper noted that 19 people had died in the 70 units between those two apartments in a six-year period, a number of whom succumbed to heat exacerbated by the conditions of their poverty.
When the ordinance was first introduced, Councilman Michael Cathcart questioned whether any landlords were currently restricting or removing air conditioning units needed during times of extreme heat. On Monday evening, Klitzke pointed to recently surfaced reports that nonprofit Spokane Neighborhood Action Partners had directed the removal of air conditioning units in the Alexandria Apartments due to liability concerns. SNAP representatives could not immediately be reached for comment Monday evening.
When the Clean Buildings Act kicks in and requires landlords to control building energy demands, there will be a collision of competing rules. Even before that point is reached, has anyone considered whether a particular building electrical service can handle the energy demand of air conditioning units? What if a landlord simply set a limit on how much electricity each tenant could use based on a safe panel capacity? Overloaded electrical systems are a fire hazard.