Ontario landlords are required to keep tenants warm in the winter. Ottawa Centre MPP Catherine McKenney says it’s time the province offered the same protection from extreme heat in the summer.
McKenney has introduced a private member’s bill that would require Ontario landlords to keep rental units at or below 26 C during the summer months by adding cooling to the definition of a vital service under the Residential Tenancies Act.
The proposal comes as climate change drives hotter summers and more frequent heat waves, raising concerns about residents living in apartments without air conditioning.
“We know that people suffer, and often die, from extreme heat in their homes,” McKenney said. “While landlords have to provide a minimum temperature for cold, this is to establish that maximum heat temperature so that people are kept safe.”
The Ford government has not committed to supporting the bill.
In a statement, Housing Minister Rob Flack’s office said municipalities already have the authority to implement their own rules.
“Municipalities can implement maximum temperature bylaws as they see fit,” spokesperson Michael Minzak said.
The ministry also said that beginning July 1 tenants across Ontario will be permitted to install air conditioning units in their rental homes without facing penalties.
The bill’s future is also uncertain. Queen’s Park adjourned last week and will not return until Oct. 27, meaning the proposal won’t advance before another summer of potentially dangerous heat.
Proposal rooted in Ottawa research
The proposed 26 C standard is rooted in years of research at the University of Ottawa’s Human and Environmental Physiology Research Unit, where physiologist Glen Kenny and his team study how the human body responds to extreme heat.
Kenny has spent years studying a deceptively simple question: how hot is too hot inside a home?
For Kenny, 26 C is an important number. His research has found that heat-related health risks begin to increase above that temperature, particularly for seniors and people with chronic illnesses.
“Having indoor temperatures capped at 26 is something I’ve been calling for, for many years,” Kenny said.
Kenny’s team exposed older adults to temperatures ranging from normal room conditions to temperatures consistent with those measured inside homes during British Columbia’s 2021 heat dome.
The studies helped establish 26 C as a safe upper indoor temperature limit for vulnerable adults. Kenny said prolonged exposure above 31 C places additional strain on the body.
Kenny said the uOttawa lab is the only one in the world conducting heat-wave simulations focused on vulnerable populations such as seniors. He said the research has helped inform recommendations on indoor temperatures and other measures aimed at protecting people during extreme heat events.
“The idea is that 26 is a safe upper limit, if a person is in a resting state,” Kenny said.
Kenny said one of the most important findings from the lab’s work is that older adults respond to heat differently than younger people. As people age, they become less efficient at shedding heat, causing them to store more warmth.
That means older adults can continue storing heat throughout the day, even while sitting indoors.
The danger, he said, is that heat stress often develops before people realize they are in trouble.
“When we expose older adults to extreme heat, they always say, ‘I’m OK. I’m OK,’” Kenny said. “But what you see later in the day is that they lose the ability to regulate blood pressure.”
Kenny said one of the most common misconceptions is that fans can protect vulnerable residents during extreme heat.
“When the air temperature in a home is above 33 degrees Celsius, a fan provides no benefits,” he said.
He also questioned relying too heavily on cooling centres because vulnerable residents are using energy to get there and can quickly reheat after returning to overheated homes.
For Eddy Roué, chair of ACORN’s Central Chapter, a tenant advocacy organization, the issue is already part of daily life.
Roué lives in an apartment building without central air conditioning and installs his own window unit each year. Before he had a chance to put it in this spring, he said even the season’s early heat made everyday tasks more difficult.
“It can make it hard to focus if you’re working from home,” Roué said. “It robs the tenant of the basic comfort of having a cool place to come home to at the end of the day.”
ACORN has been advocating for maximum indoor-temperature standards and supports McKenney’s bill. Roué said the province, rather than individual municipalities, should act to avoid a patchwork of local rules.
“I’m quite disappointed to hear that the province seems to be fobbing this off on the municipalities when this is absolutely something that the province could act on,” Roué said. “In the absence of provincial action, it would also be good to see municipalities stepping up to fill the gap.”
As climate change drives hotter summers and more frequent heat waves, Kenny argues cooling should increasingly be viewed as a public health measure rather than a luxury.
“Having indoor temperatures at 26 is like a seatbelt,” he said. “You don’t have to live every day at 26, but it’s when you have those extreme heat events, it’s going to protect you.”
Our website is your destination for up-to-the-minute news, so make sure to bookmark our homepage and sign up for our newsletters so we can keep you informed.
