Cooling isn’t just about comfort, it’s about life and death. As our summers get hotter, we’ll see an increase in preventable deaths and illnesses caused by extreme heat unless access to cooling is expanded. And yet, cooling assistance from New York State’s Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP), which provides funding to cover the cost of an air conditioner for eligible low-income New Yorkers, just ran out of money for the third summer in a row.
We must reform this program so that it can help those who do not have access to air conditioning. We call on the state and federal governments to help low-income New Yorkers obtain air conditioning so they can live healthy and safe in their homes.
In New York, heat kills more people than all other climate threats combined, with an average of 350 heat-related deaths each year. Those who die are more likely to have pre-existing conditions that are worsened by heat, such as heart disease, a history of respiratory illness, and diabetes.
Access to air conditioning in New York City is generally high, but as reported in Environmental Justice NYCthe city’s first environmental justice studyIn some low-income communities of color, nearly 25% of households don’t have access to air conditioning. I get it, I grew up in Brooklyn without air conditioning.
As a city, we are working hard to combat this threat. We have planted nearly 18,000 trees in the last financial yearwere invest more than a billion dollars in the city’s swimming pools; we are decarbonizing buildings under the Climate Mobilization Act — which will increase the number of energy-efficient heat pumps that also provide cooling; and we are working toward a maximum indoor temperature policy to ensure all New Yorkers are protected from dangerously high temperatures at home.
We’re building cooler streets and public spaces and launching the city’s first urban forest plan to cover at least 30% of the five boroughs with tree canopies.
The federal government Low-Income Housing Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) gives money to states and lets them use it however they want to help low-income residents pay their energy and utility bills. It was created in response to rising energy prices in the 1970s, when the goal was to help low-income Northeast residents stay warm during frigid winters. But rising temperatures in recent decades have changed that.
While LIHEAP has been a lifeline for keeping homes warm in the winter, cities in the Northeast haven’t received enough money from state programs to meet the demand for air conditioners or to provide what New York City has advocated for: a utility subsidy to help cover the monthly cost of air conditioning for low-income New Yorkers. Last fiscal year, federal funding for LIHEAP was $4.1 billion, down from $6.1 billion the year before. That translated into an allocation of just $395 million for New York state, a reduction of nearly 30 percent.
Due to a combination of factors, including rising temperatures, economic insecurity caused by COVID, expanded eligibility criteria thanks in part to the city’s advocacy, and a new online application implemented by Mayor Adams in 2022, applications for cooling assistance have increased dramatically. This year, even though Governor Hochul has committed an additional $5 million, up from $17 million, the funding falls short of the obvious need, and the program still needs more money.
Only low-income New Yorkers whose health problems are worsened by heat, or New Yorkers over age 60 or under age 6, are eligible for LIHEAP’s cooling benefits. Low-income New Yorkers who have air conditioners are likely to use them less because they can’t afford to pay their utility bills.
The burden of energy costs—when you spend more than 6 percent of your pretax income on energy bills—is a growing problem and a barrier to air conditioning for many low-income New Yorkers. That’s why, with enough federal funding, New York State could establish a summer utility allowance and waive the medical requirement so that eligibility is based solely on income. No one should have to die at home because of energy costs.
Extreme heat isn’t going away. Scientists predict that by the 2030s, less than six years from now, there could be up to three times as many days with temperatures above 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius) than in recent memory. With those hotter days fast approaching, about 650,000 families in the city, including more than 500,000 low-income families, are currently burdened by energy costs, with neighborhoods that are predominantly black or Hispanic/Latino seeing the highest rates.
As a New Yorker who has lived his entire life in an environmental justice community, I know that cooling reform can’t come too soon.
Hutchinson is executive director of the Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice.
