Heat wave: HLM in front of the “wild” installations of air conditioners by the tenants

Social landlords are unfavorable for the installation of air conditioning in HLM, notes the Ancols, in a study published this Wednesday, July 9. But “it will become more and more difficult to do without air conditioning,” warns the social housing gendarme.

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Four out of ten. It is the proportion of households living in HLM that say suffer from heat In their accommodation in summer, reveals the ANCOLS (National Agency for the Control of Social Housing organizations), in a study published this Wednesday, July 9. A proportion that climbs to Almost five out of ten in the overseas departments and regions. “Climate warming increasing the intensity and frequency of heat waves, it makes it increasingly important to take into account the temperature of housing in summer” By social landlords, warns the ancols.

Social landlords that have “Unanimously a policy of noair conditioning housing “notes the agency. First for “Ecological considerations”explains Pauline Beck, head of the Department of Studies within the Gendarme of Social Donors. It is true that by rejecting heat in the outside air, air conditioners contribute to theworsening of urban overheatingaccording to the ecological transition agency (ADEME). Another drawback of air conditioners, their greenhouse gas emissions. If social landlords are not in favor of installing air conditioning, it is also for “Do not worsen tenants’ expensesAdds Pauline Beck. Air conditioners are consuming a lot of electricity.

Heat wave: this little -known device refreshes your accommodation for 2 times cheaper than air conditioning

Inevitable air conditioning in HLM?

Faced with heat waves, the vast majority of social landlords therefore favor so -called passive solutions, such as theconcealment Windows using tilting or sliding shutters or lighters, insulation of walls and the use of air brewers or fans. But, given “The intensification of heat waves, which will make it insufficient the only passive solutions to guarantee acceptable comfort in certain dwellings”the reluctance of social landlords in the face of air conditioning “Could be questioned in the medium term”estimates the ancols. Already, tenants install air conditioners in their accommodation without authorization. Pauline Beck observes for example “A Wild development of air conditioning»» in the social park in the Antilles. With the key to “Occupied security issues if air conditioners are not properly installed”she alerts.

Which leads social landlords, overseas but also in the south of metropolitan France, to “to accompany” This anarchic boom in air conditioning, “Without funding it», Notes the ancols. This, by participating in the choice of the craftsman who will install the tenant’s air conditioner and by verifying that the work has been carried out in the rules of the art. For Pauline Beck, it will however become more and more difficult, for social landlords, “To do without air conditioning”. But it should be installed “Lastly, After work of insulation, concealment, change of joinery and ventilation »she concedes. Tenants also have a role to play in the refreshment of their accommodation, respecting the instructions for closure of the shutters during the day in the event of high heat and night ventilation. But the ancols are up “Low integration of these reflexes” by the tenants of the social park. “Some do not want to live in the dark, what is conceived …”she admits.