PHOENIX, AZ — Despite record heat deaths in Arizona last year, some mobile parks don’t allow residents to install certain air conditioning units.
A bill, now headed to Governor Katie Hobbs’ desk, will prohibit rules like that, safeguarding a tenant’s rights to put in air conditioning.
Thursday, lawmakers passed HB2146 in a landslide as an emergency measure. The bill would take effect immediately if it gets signed.
DeAnna Mireau, president of the Arizona Association of Manufactured Home Owners, calls the change a “life saver.”
Amid record heat deaths last summer, Maricopa County says mobile home residents are among those most at risk.
Mireau says mobile home residents from across the state have reached out, concerned about putting window AC units in their homes for fear of getting evicted.
“This is our biggest concern is going into the summer. How many more residents are we going to lose?” Mireau said. “We have people who are in the process right now, who have gotten letters, said ‘Ok you have to take your window air conditioners out.’”
A representative for the Manufactured Housing Communities of Arizona, advocating for mobile park landlords, told lawmakers earlier this year that the organization isn’t against people cooling their homes; however, communities put rules in place to avoid “loud” and “unsightly” window AC units, that could bring property values down.
Mireau disagrees, saying while she hasn’t had any issues in her mobile home community, she’s heard from people in other parks who have no other way to cool their home rather than a window AC.
“What is unsightly is watching my neighbor be hauled out in a body bag because they passed away from the heat,” Mireau said.
