That's the backdrop for a proposed ordinance introduced April 13 at Spokane's Planning, Infrastructure, Environment, and Sustainability (PIES) Committee meeting. Sponsored by Council Members Sarah Dixit, Paul Dillon, and Kitty Klitzke, and drafted in partnership with the Gonzaga Institute for Climate, Water, and the Environment and students from Gonzane's Environmental and Climate Law Clinic, the measure would require landlords to maintain bedroom temperatures below 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
The Spokane City Council's Climate Resilience and Sustainability Board unanimously recommended adoption of the ordinance the prior week.
Under the proposal, landlords with existing units would have until 2031 to comply. Buildings constructed after 2027 would be exempt, since new construction will align with state code. The ordinance also establishes a legal path for tenants to seek judicial relief for violations.
This builds on an earlier Spokane measure passed in June 2024 that addressed portable cooling devices but stopped short of requiring landlords to actually provide cooling. The new ordinance closes that gap.
The 2021 Pacific Northwest heat dome remains the defining event driving this policy push. In Spokane County alone, 19 people died from heat-related causes and more than 300 sought emergency medical treatment. Most of those who didn't survive were in their homes.
That event has been cited repeatedly in both local and state legislative discussions. Washington state passed ESSB 6200 on March 3, 2026, prohibiting landlords from blocking tenants from installing portable cooling devices — a significant step, but one that still falls short of mandating that a livable temperature be maintained.
"Cooling is not a luxury," said Dr. Brian Henning, director of the Gonzaga Institute for Climate, Water and the Environment. "In our climate-changed world, access to cooling can be the difference between life and death."
Nationally, the U.S. still lacks a federal standard on indoor cooling for renters. Most habitability laws were written before climate change made summer temperatures a routine health risk.
Montgomery County, Maryland, was among the first jurisdictions in the country to require landlords to maintain indoor temperatures at or below 80 degrees. Only a handful of cities in the United States require landlords to provide air conditioners for their tenants — Tempe, Arizona, and Dallas, Texas, are two examples.
Opponents from residential property management groups have raised concerns about window-unit logistics and lease notification requirements, but stopped short of opposing the ordinance's core goal. The measure now moves through the Spokane City Council process for a formal vote.
With average temperatures in Spokane continuing to rise and summer projections trending hotter each decade, this ordinance may signal where a growing number of municipalities are headed — particularly in the Pacific Northwest, where residential infrastructure was never built with extreme summer heat in mind.
