Mike Knerr was excited to move into his Washington Heights apartment in September 2023, but coming off a hot summer, he faced a looming problem: his building didn’t have central air conditioning, and he didn’t have an AC unit — or the money to buy one.
Knerr, who is HIV-positive, was out of work as his health took a nosedive. But the 42-year-old receives benefits through the the city’s HIV/AIDS Services Administration , which is how he found out he might be eligible to receive a free air conditioner from the federally funded Home Energy Assistance Program , or HEAP, which helps New Yorkers pay their heating bills in the winter and provides air conditioning units in the summer.
Knerr applied last April, and became one of the more than 10,000 households in New York City authorized to receive the cooling benefit. With his AC unit installed before summer, he felt relief…