Spokane, Wash. — The Spokane City Council plans to keep refining a proposed ordinance this week, that would require landlords to provide enough cooling in rental homes.
A recent study found 23 percent of Spokane residents faced limits in cooling their homes, mainly because of utility costs. The city’s extreme heat resilience plan states in-home cooling is essential for healthier and more equitable communities.
A city council agenda preview session on Tuesday outlines a phased approach. It describes using existing funds first to make sure rentals were habitable, then creating a fund with 2% of all revenue collected and eventually paying in full for cooling upgrades or relocating tenants through enforcement fines against landlords…