{"id":237322,"date":"2026-05-19T22:08:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T22:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/237322\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T22:08:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T22:08:10","slug":"program-offers-free-ac-units-to-eligible-new-yorkers-how-to-apply","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/237322\/","title":{"rendered":"Program offers free AC units to eligible New Yorkers: How to apply"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/gettyimages-1726222330-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-v-7d0efd03=\"\"\/> article <\/p>\n<p data-v-7d0efd03=\"\">Gree Air-conditioning units outside apartment building, Queens, New York. (Photo by: Lindsey Nicholson\/UCG\/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) <\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">NEW YORK &#8211; Applications for a program that provides New Yorkers with one free air conditioner unit are now open.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>   Cooling Assistance <\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WNYW\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-94395e58=\"\">What we know:<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ny.gov\/services\/apply-cooling-assistance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Cooling Assistance Benefit<\/a> program provides eligible households with either one free AC unit or one fan.<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/gettyimages-2221291109-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" data-v-2fe2fe3e=\"\"\/> <\/p>\n<p data-v-2fe2fe3e=\"\">NEW YORK CITY, UNITED STATES &#8211; JUNE 24: Some residents meet their air conditioning needs on a day of record-breaking heat as the temperatures hit 99 degrees in Manhattan, while Kennedy Airport hit 102 degrees on Tuesday afternoon, surpassing the high  <\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">The price of installing the AC unit or fan cannot exceed $800. Funds from the program are distributed on a first-come, first-serve basis.<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">Households that <a href=\"https:\/\/access.nyc.gov\/programs\/cooling-assistance-benefit\/#how-it-works\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">qualify<\/a> must either meet the income limit or currently receive one of the following benefits:<\/p>\n<p> SNAP benefitsCash AssistanceCode A Supplemental Security Income (SSI Living Alone)A HEAP Regular Benefit over $21 this program year \u2014 or equal to $21 if you live in government-subsidized housing (such as NYCHA or Section 8) with heat included in your rent <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/money.jpg\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" data-v-2fe2fe3e=\"\"\/>  <\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">The household must not currently have a working air conditioner, unless said AC unit is over five years old.<\/p>\n<p> How to apply <\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WNYW\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-94395e58=\"\">What you can do:<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">Applications are currently live \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/a069-access.nyc.gov\/accesshra\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">here is the website<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">Interested parties can also call (718) 557-1399 if they have any questions pertaining to the program or the application process.<\/p>\n<p class=\"group-source-paragraph\" data-v-4fbf7207=\"\">The Source: This article includes information provided by New York government websites.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox5ny.com\/tag\/us\/ny\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-94395e58=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">New York<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"article Gree Air-conditioning units outside apartment building, Queens, New York. (Photo by: Lindsey Nicholson\/UCG\/Universal Images Group via Getty&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":237323,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,9,24,12,56,63,618],"class_list":["post-237322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-news","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}