Summer in Baltimore means swimming pools, snowballs, and looking for any way to escape the heat.
As climate change fuels record-breaking temperatures and heat waves, a home without air conditioning can be a health hazard instead of a refuge. In Baltimore, heat-related emergency department visits to city hospitals have more than doubled in recent years, rising from 95 in 2023 to 210 in 2025.
For years, housing advocates have urged Maryland officials to treat air conditioning in rental housing as a basic safety issue — no different from access to clean water or heat in the winter…