Los Angeles County is looking to pass a law requiring rental units to stay below a certain temperature during the summertime.
The motion, written by L.A. County Supervisors Hilda Solis and Lindsey Horvath, was introduced on Tuesday. It looks to “establish a single maximum indoor temperature threshold for dwellings,” as well as “center health concerns regarding extreme heat by utilizing the Health and Safety Code, where possible.”
If passed, the motion would affect unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County, Supervisor Janice Hahn told KNX News’ Jon Baird.
“Currently this ordinance is looking to be just in our unincorporated areas in L.A. County, but we are looking to put it in our health code because it certainly is a public health issue,” she said. “But that would give other cities the chance to easily adopt it…”
Jesus Rojas of the Apartment Association said that the mandate could be expensive for landlords
“At a time when both mom and pop owners and renters are still struggling financially to recover from the impacts of COVID-19, this motion seems particularly callous and tone deaf to the needs of the L.A. county residents,” he said.
Hahn, however, told Jon Baird it would be up to the landlords to decide the maximum temperature.
“So, we're not mandating how they get to this maximum temperature, but we hope that we can help them be creative,” she said.
She added she hopes to find funding to help landlords with this.
Areas that have laws requiring rentals to be kept below a certain temperature include Palm Springs, Clark County in Nevada, and Phoenix, Arizona.
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