Air conditioning is a necessity

It’s a feeling many of us take for granted – walking from Iowa’s scorching heat and humidity into an air-conditioned home, apartment or business.

But for many Linn County residents, air conditioning is not available. According to reporting by The Gazette’s Brittney J. Miller, about one in 10 residential properties in Linn County don’t have air conditioning. That figure doesn’t include apartment complexes, and it lumps together numbers from rental and owner-occupied properties.

What we do know for certain is that landlords in Iowa are not required to provide air conditioning. State law requires them to provide heating, but cooling is optional.

The headline for Miller’s reporting is “Air conditioning is not required in Iowa rental units. Should it be?” Our answer to that question is yes.

Iowa does not have a statewide building code, meaning the power to devise and enforce ordinances is in the hands of local housing authorities. Cedar Rapids, for example, has adopted a model set of rules, the 2021 International Property Maintenance Code. That code does not require air conditioning.

Some will argue that air conditioning is a comfort, not a need. But that’s got to change. As global temperatures rise, spawning longer and more intense heat waves, air conditioning is becoming a public safety and public health imperative. In the Cedar Rapids metro, the problem is exacerbated by the destruction of trees in the 2020 derecho that once shaded properties.

We got a serving of what’s to come this summer, when Cedar Rapids’ temperature hit 100 degrees during a late August heat wave. Linn County responded to an above average number of 911 calls for heat-related illness and injuries during late August and early September, when temps climbed again.

Multiple local governments in the region have received well-deserved praise for addressing climate change and setting goals to reduce carbon emissions. Protecting people from being harmed by the current effects of climate change should also be part of that mission.

So local governments should get to work on this issue and get creative. Maybe there are policy paths that could provide incentives for air conditioning installation that could reduce the cost for landlords and tenants. We’d also like to see the state’s Low Income Home Energy Assistance program make funding air conditioning a higher priority.

Escaping summer’s swelter is not a luxury. It’s a necessity.

(319) 398-8262; editorial@thegazette.com