here<\/a>.<\/p>\nThe ordinance comes during a streak of more than 100 days in Houston, and not all councilmembers were in favor.\u00a0At-Large 3 Councilmember Twila Carter and District E Councilmember Fred Flickinger voted against the measure. Though Mayor Whitmire supported the ordinance, he echoed many councilmembers\u2019 concerns, including higher utility bills, increased rent as landlords pass the cost down to tenants, and a reduction in affordable housing, which could land people on the streets.<\/p>\n
At-Large 2 Councilmember Willie Davis accused the ordinance of making empty promises, saying that it will be difficult, if not impossible, to enforce. Councilmember Carter called it an \u201cunfunded mandate with no meaningful guardrails for the tenants,\u201d and stated that air conditioning can raise people\u2019s electricity bills to a level they can\u2019t pay, resulting in their electricity being cut off or even eviction. Councilmember Flickinger agreed, noting that the ordinance only addresses a symptom of the root cause: poverty. Landlords who keep prices low by not providing air conditioning might decide the cost of A\/C isn\u2019t worth it and choose to remove affordable housing from the market, leaving people nowhere to go but the street.<\/p>\n
District H Councilmember Mario Castillo countered, saying many of his colleagues\u2019 concerns are unfounded. Other Texas cities have implemented similar measures but have never experienced any of the mentioned dangers, he added, though did not specify which. He also emphasized the direct link between heat and public health, noting that extreme heat conditions most often negatively affect vulnerable populations. \u201cOur codes and our regulations are designed to keep people safe,\u201d Castillo said. \u201cThis [ordinance] is raising the bar on the minimum, which is that when you rent a place, there will be a cooling unit. That doesn\u2019t mean folks have to run it 24\/7, but it\u2019s there to keep people safe from the high heat.\u201d<\/p>\n
District J Councilmember Pollard agreed, noting that unintended consequences, like higher electricity bills, are unavoidable, but it\u2019s the council\u2019s job to prioritize public health. \u201cLiving here without AC should be criminal,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On August 19, City Council approved an ordinance spearheaded by At-Large 4 Councilmember Alejandra Salinas that requires all…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":417124,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57],"class_list":["post-417123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=417123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/417124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}