NPR, July 4, 2024, As Heat Waves Intensify, More Public Housing Residents May Get Help With AC Bills
The summer has already been a scorcher and heat alerts across the country could lead to more records broken. Public housing residents, many elderly, children or sick, are disproportionately vulnerable to heat illness, yet there’s no federal mandate to provide them air conditioning.
In fact, until last month the Department of Housing and Urban Development allowed local housing agencies to subsidize tenants’ heating bills, but — with some exceptions — explicitly said they could not pay for cooling bills.
New guidance changes that, though critics say it still falls short.
