Blog by Jacqueline Wilson, Counsel, Canadian Environmental Law Association
On March 30, New Westminster became the first municipality in Canada to pass an indoor maximum temperature by-law. The Canadian Environmental Law Association congratulates the municipality on taking this significant step to protect tenants from the serious health impacts of extreme heat and calls on other Canadian municipalities to take life-saving policy action to establish safe indoor temperatures for tenants vulnerable to heat.
New Westminster’s by-law requires that one living space within all rental units must be maintained at a safe temperature of 26 degrees Celsius or below between 8:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. The staff report highlights the particular danger of overnight heat.
New Westminster has also developed a pilot project to support building owners and tenants to identify, access and implement indoor cooling solutions, and has budgeted to include both complaint driven and proactive annual rental building inspections to support enforcement.
The impacts of climate change are unfair. Lower income tenants, children, older adults, and people with certain medical conditions or disabilities, or taking certain medications that impact a person’s ability to regulate their body temperatures, are among the people most vulnerable to heat.
During the tragic extreme heat event in 2021 in British Columbia, 33 of the people who died lived in New Westminster. The British Columbia Coroner found that 98% of the people who died from exposure to heat during the 2021 heat event died indoors. With climate change driving longer, more frequent and more intense heat waves, it is critical to address the unsafe heat in rental apartments to prevent future tragedies.
Blog: New Westminster, British Columbia Passes By-Law to Protect Tenants from Extreme Heat
Blog by Jacqueline Wilson, Counsel, Canadian Environmental Law Association
On March 30, New Westminster became the first municipality in Canada to pass an indoor maximum temperature by-law. The Canadian Environmental Law Association congratulates the municipality on taking this significant step to protect tenants from the serious health impacts of extreme heat and calls on other Canadian municipalities to take life-saving policy action to establish safe indoor temperatures for tenants vulnerable to heat.
New Westminster’s by-law requires that one living space within all rental units must be maintained at a safe temperature of 26 degrees Celsius or below between 8:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. The staff report highlights the particular danger of overnight heat.
New Westminster has also developed a pilot project to support building owners and tenants to identify, access and implement indoor cooling solutions, and has budgeted to include both complaint driven and proactive annual rental building inspections to support enforcement.
The impacts of climate change are unfair. Lower income tenants, children, older adults, and people with certain medical conditions or disabilities, or taking certain medications that impact a person’s ability to regulate their body temperatures, are among the people most vulnerable to heat.
During the tragic extreme heat event in 2021 in British Columbia, 33 of the people who died lived in New Westminster. The British Columbia Coroner found that 98% of the people who died from exposure to heat during the 2021 heat event died indoors. With climate change driving longer, more frequent and more intense heat waves, it is critical to address the unsafe heat in rental apartments to prevent future tragedies.
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