On scorching days like this one, Yecenia Lopez fills her bathtub with water and sits in it until she feels the heat break.
Her apartment in the city of Bell has no air conditioning. She could install a window unit, but she says she can’t afford the electricity bill. So she’s stuck with less effective methods — opening and closing windows strategically, and drinking lots of water. Still, the heat keeps her up at night.
A new study from Strategic Actions for a Just Economy, or SAJE, looks at how extreme heat effects renters like Lopez across Los Angeles. The nonprofit interviewed 58 mainly low-income tenants, and most said they didn’t have air conditioning, either because they couldn’t pay for it or because their landlord wouldn’t allow it…