(The Center Square) – Spokane is expanding renter protections again, this time with an ordinance that could ensure a tenant’s right to air conditioning.
Last month, the City Council joined other municipalities by passing an ordinance that increased the notice period before raising rent to a minimum of 120 days. Now, an ordinance proposed by Council President Betsy Wilkerson takes a step further.
If passed, the Heat Health & Safety Ordinance would guarantee a tenant’s right to install and use a “portable cooling device” of their choice, provided that its use does not violate building code or damage the premises and follows state and federal law.
“We all know that extreme heat causes death,” said Sarah Nuss, director of Emergency Management, during the ordinance’s first reading at the City Council’s Public Safety & Health Committee meeting on Monday.
Nuss continued that most deaths recorded during the region’s 2021 heat dome were housed individuals, not people living on the street. She said this ordinance could help increase access to people without air conditioning already built into their dwellings.