Ben Gallegos sits on the porch of his family鈥檚 home in the Globeville neighborhood with his dog, Coca Smiles, as the daytime high temperature soars toward triple digits, Thursday, July 27, 2023, in north Denver. Gallegos has taken several measures to keep his home cool in spite of lacking central air conditioning. (Photo by DAVID ZALUBOWSKI / AP)
DENVER 鈥� As Denver neared triple-digit temperatures, Ben Gallegos sat shirtless on his porch swatting flies off his legs and spritzing himself with a misting fan to try to get through the heat. Gallegos, like many in the nation鈥檚 poorest neighborhoods, doesn鈥檛 have air conditioning.
The 68-year-old covers his windows with mattress foam to insulate against the heat and sleeps in the concrete basement. He knows high temperatures can cause heat stroke and death, and his lung condition makes him more susceptible. But the retired bricklayer, who survives on about $1,000 a month largely from Social Security, says air conditioning is out of reach.
鈥淭ake me about 12 years to save up for something like that,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f it鈥檚 hard to breathe, I鈥檒l get down to emergency.鈥�
As climate change fans hotter and longer heat waves, breaking record temperatures across the U.S. and leaving dozens dead, the poorest Americans suffer the hottest days with the fewest defenses. Air conditioning, once a luxury, is now a matter of survival.
As Phoenix weathered its 27th consecutive day above 110 degrees (43 Celsius) Wednesday, the nine who died indoors didn鈥檛 have functioning air conditioning, or it was turned off. Last year, all 86 heat-related deaths indoors were in uncooled environments.
鈥淭o explain it fairly simply: Heat kills,鈥� said Kristie Ebi, a University of Washington professor who researches heat and health. 鈥淥nce the heat wave starts, mortality starts in about 24 hours.鈥�
It鈥檚 the poorest and people of color, from Kansas City to Detroit to New York City and beyond, who are far more likely to face grueling heat without air conditioning, according to a Boston University analysis of 115 U.S. metros.
鈥淭he temperature differences 鈥� between lower-income neighborhoods, neighborhoods of color and their wealthier, whiter counterparts have pretty severe consequences,鈥� said Cate Mingoya-LaFortune of Groundwork USA, an environmental justice organization. 鈥淭here are these really big consequences like death. 鈥� But there鈥檚 also ambient misery.鈥�
Some have window units that can offer respite, but 鈥渋n the dead of heat, it don鈥檛 do nothing,鈥� said Melody Clark, who stopped Friday to get food at a nonprofit in Kansas City, Kansas, as temperatures soared to 101, and high humidity made it feel like 109. When the central air conditioning at her rental house went on the fritz, her landlord installed a window unit. But it doesn鈥檛 do much during the day.
So the 45-year-old wets her hair, cooks outside on a propane grill and keeps the lights off indoors. She鈥檚 taken the bus to the library to cool off. At night she flips the box unit on, hauling her bed into the room where it鈥檚 located to sleep.
As far as her two teenagers, she said: 鈥淭hey aren鈥檛 little bitty. We aren鈥檛 dying in the heat. 鈥� They don鈥檛 complain.鈥�
While billions in federal funding have been allocated to subsidize utility costs and the installation of cooling systems, experts say they often only support a fraction of the most vulnerable families and some still require prohibitive upfront costs. Installing a centralized heat pump system for heating and cooling can easily reach $25,000.
President Joe Biden announced steps on Thursday to defend against extreme heat, highlighting the expansion of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which funnels money through states to help poorer households pay utility bills.
While the program is critical, said Michelle Graff, who studies the subsidy at Cleveland State University, only about 16% of the nation鈥檚 eligible population is actually reached. Nearly half of states don鈥檛 offer the federal dollars for summer cooling.
鈥淪o people are engaging in coping mechanisms, like they鈥檙e turning on their air conditioners later and leaving their homes hotter,鈥� Graff said.
While frigid temperatures and high heating bills birthed the term 鈥渉eat or eat,鈥� she said, 鈥渨e can now transition to AC or eat, where people are going to have to make difficult decisions.鈥�
As temperatures rise, so does the cost of cooling. And temperatures are already hotter in America鈥檚 low-income neighborhoods like Gallegos鈥� Denver suburb of Globeville, where people live along stretches of asphalt and concrete that hold heat like a cast-iron skillet. Surface temperatures there can be roughly 8 degrees hotter than in Denver鈥檚 wealthier neighborhoods, where a sea of vegetation cools the area, according to the environmental advocacy group American Forests.
This disparity plays out nationwide. Researchers at the University of San Diego analyzed 1,056 counties and in over 70%, the poorest areas and those with higher Black, Hispanic and Asian populations were significantly hotter.
About one in 10 U.S. households have no air conditioning, a disparity compounded for marginalized groups, according to a study by the Brookings Institution. Less than 4% of Detroit鈥檚 white households don鈥檛 have air conditioning; it鈥檚 15% for Black households.
At noon on Friday, Katrice Sullivan sat on the porch of her rented house on Detroit鈥檚 westside. It was hot and muggy, but even steamier inside the house. Even if she had air conditioning, Sullivan said she鈥檇 choose her moments to run it to keep her electricity bill down.
The 37-year-old factory worker pours water on her head, freezes towels to put around her neck, and sits in her car with the air conditioner on. 鈥淪ome people here spend every dollar for food, so air conditioning is something they can鈥檛 afford,鈥� she said.
Shannon Lewis, 38, lived in her Detroit home for nearly 20 years without air conditioning. Lewis鈥檚 bedroom was the only place with a window unit, so she鈥檇 squeeze her teenager, 8-year-old and 3-year-old-twins into her queen-size bed to sleep, eat meals and watch television.
鈥淪o it was like cool in one room and a heat stroke in another,鈥� Lewis said. For the first time, Lewis now has air conditioning through a local non-profit, she said. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 have to sleep or eat in the same room, we are able to come out, sit at the dining room table, eat like a family.鈥�
After at least 54 died during a 2021 heat wave, mostly elderly people without air conditioning, in the Portland area, Oregon passed a law prohibiting landlords from placing blanket bans on air conditioning units. By and large, however, states don鈥檛 have laws requiring landlords to provide cooling.
In the federal Inflation Reduction Act, billions were set aside for tax credits and rebates to help families install energy-efficient cooling systems, but some of those are yet to be available. For people like Gallegos, who doesn鈥檛 pay taxes, the available credits are worthless.
The law also offers rebates, the kind of state and federal point-of-sale discounts that Amanda Morian has looked into for her 640-square-foot home.
Morian, who has a 13-week-old baby susceptible to hot weather, is desperate to keep her house in Denver鈥檚 Globeville suburb cool. She bought thermal curtains, ceiling fans and runs a window unit. At night she tries to do skin-to-skin touch to regulate the baby鈥檚 body temperature. When the back door opens in the afternoon, she said, the indoor temperature jumps a degree.
鈥淎ll of those are just to take the edge off, it鈥檚 not enough to actually make it cool. It鈥檚 enough to keep us from dying,鈥� she said.
She got estimates from four different companies for installing a cooling system, but every project was between $20,000 and $25,000, she said. Even with subsidies she can鈥檛 afford it.
鈥淚鈥檓 finding that you have to afford the project in the first place and then it鈥檚 like having a bonus coupon to take $5,000 off of the sticker price,鈥� she said.
Lucy Molina, a single mom in Commerce City, one of Denver鈥檚 poorest areas, said her home has reached 107 degrees without air conditioning. Nearby, Molina鈥檚 two teenage children slurped popsicles to cool off, lingering in front of the open freezer.
For Molina, who bustled around her kitchen on a recent day when temperatures reached 99 degrees outdoors, it鈥檚 hard to see any path to a cooling respite.
鈥淲e鈥檙e just too poor,鈥� she said.