Climate change is turning air conditioning into a matter of life and death. But government help is lacking.

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As health risks grow from climate change, access to air conditioning can be a matter of life and death. But Chicago laws on safe building temperatures don’t stave off summertime heat for many.

in an overheated building, but even the alderman who sponsored that effort acknowledged that the changes were only a first step.

Patricia Briggs said she tried to apply to LIHEAP this summer but it was too late to qualify. “You can’t get on for help until September,” she said. Ten years later, Chicago saw consecutive days of triple-digit temperatures for the first time since that deadly month. But in 2022 the extreme heat came sooner, arriving in June following record-setting high temperatures in May and prompting multiple safety warnings.

“For households that lack air conditioning altogether, have inadequate equipment, or cannot afford the energy costs of running their units, extreme heat conditions can pose severe risks of health impacts,” the Biden administration wrote in September 2021. Linda Jackson, who is on a fixed disability income, said her LIHEAP application was deemed illegible. She tried to figure out how to fix it but couldn’t find help, she said.

A retired single father of two boys ages 15 and 22, Valdovinos said getting aid would mean he’d have some extra money to buy his sons clothes and food.His Social Security income leaves him with $250 each month after paying rent. Valdovinos sometimes finds ways to make a little money to help pay bills. His oldest son also works and helps buy necessities.

The vast majority of Chicagoans, however, live in buildings with fewer than 20 units, according to estimates from the Census Bureau’s 2020 American Community Survey.as an incremental but critical first step. Swift action was needed, but more needs to be done, said Perkins. “If he could put air conditioning downstairs, how come he can’t put it through the whole building?” Melendez said of building management.

One of the city’s six cooling centers is 2 miles from Rio’s home. But the stroke impaired his mobility, and during recent heat advisories Rio bided his time at home.Chicago’s cooling centers are operated by the Department of Family and Support Services. Data obtained from the agency through a public records request shows that during heat advisories in 2020 and 2021, no more than 10 people were recorded as using the cooling centers in any given hour.

 

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It's good to try to get AC for people, but tying this to climate change nonsense.

Did you not know there was no air conditioning when you signed the lease? Are you aware there are apartment sized AC units available & you can fix this problem yourself?

What a crock. It's been no warmer this summer in Chicago than any other year. My grass looks great without any extra watering

Stop

Or maybe it’ll be an ice age. Nobody knows.

Holy cow, it’s hot outside!

Ummm…not news just climate change propaganda bullshit. Kass sez, “Yo”!

Does anyone at the Tribune actually read these articles before they say “publish it”? I suppose this is why you can’t even giver your paper away for essentially freeas I just received yet other email begging me to re-subscribe for $6 a year. It’s literally a worthless paper!

What the heck are you talking about it has been hot for centuries? Omg you have lost it. People survived without AC for hundreds of years. So now govt needs to pay that?

Lol

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