Albuquerque now requires cooling systems in rentals as summer temperatures lurk

As workers installed a swamp cooler at a city apartment complex on Tuesday, Albuquerque officials celebrated a new regulation: landlords must provide cooling systems in rentals, or face the consequences.

“Everyone has a right to either not freeze or not die from heat stroke in their house,” Mayor Tim Keller said. “That’s all this (ordinance) does. But, believe it or not, it took the City Council and Councilor (Tammy) Fieblekorn to change the law in the city to make sure that everyone actually can have that in their house.”

In December, the City Council approved a measure to require landlords to provide some form of cooling, whether evaporative cooling (swamp coolers) or air conditioning. The council has also approved a measure to create a full-time position for a code enforcement officer to receive and review tenant complaints.

Fieblekorn sponsored both measures, which have been signed by the mayor.

However, Tuesday’s news conference focused primarily on the measure meant to protect tenants from heat.

“Urban heat island impacts and climate change have made it where you cannot live in a home in the city of Albuquerque without a cooling system,” Fieblekorn said. “You will be sick, you will have days off work, you will not be a productive member of society, and you’ll be miserable.”

The vote narrowly passed the City Council. Four councilors wanted to reject the measure, which drew opposition from landlords and representatives of landlord advocacy groups.

Fiebelkorn said the final bill, however, was a compromise. She noted that her initial proposal required landlords to install cooling units that could bring a rental unit down to a certain point. So, buildings without efficient insulation would require more powerful cooling units.

“Through the legislative process, to get anything through, we did have to remove that temperature set point, which was unfortunate,” Fieblekorn said. “But I think that, in general, having that movement of cooler air through the building is certainly better than nothing.”

Data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows that temperatures in Albuquerque reach 100 degrees more often than in years past. In 2023, Albuquerque saw 17 days at or above 100 degrees, the highest on record. Typically, the city has seen just three.

Heat — and its many adverse health effects — is not felt equally among Albuquerque’s residents. In a 2021 report, the CAPA Heat Watch program mapped the parts of Albuquerque that became the hottest. They found that some parts of the city are up to 17 degrees warmer.

There are no signs that things will cool off anytime soon.

An article published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Nature Communications argues that summer temperatures in Albuquerque will look more like summers in Roswell by 2080, where, on average, from 2020 to 2024, there were 52 days when the temperature reached or exceeded 100 degrees.

But on the cool spring day of the news conference, city officials sought to warn landlords: add cooling for tenants, or face the consequences.

Angelo Metzgar, code compliance manager, said the enforcement process will be like any other enforcement action under the uniform housing code process.

“We will reach out to the tenant, schedule the inspection, go out, verify there’s a violation, and get the notice out to the property owner, giving him a certain amount of time to put the cooling unit in,” Metzger said, adding that the length of time will be decided on a case-by-case basis.