Federal rule removes AC from 83 public housing units in Augusta

AUGUSTA - Hattie Nunnally can put up with the peeling paint, the unventilated kitchen and the single phone jack. But she had enough when a federal safety rule took away her air conditioner. <br> <br> Nunnally is one of 83 public housing residents in Augusta who were told in April that their window air-conditioning units did not meet a federal regulation and were a fire hazard. <br> <br> Federal regulations adopted last year by the Department of Housing and Urban Development say window air-conditioning units in rooms with fewer than two windows are a fire hazard. <br> <br> The directive did not reach the housing authority in August until March, and the window units were removed in April -- just as the weather was getting warm. <br> <br> The only option remaining for residents hoping to keep cool during Georgia&#39;s long, hot summer would be to purchase a ceiling fan and pay the Augusta housing authority $40 to install it. <br> <br> During the past month, Nunnally has been sleeping on the couch in the living room downstairs, rather than the upstairs bedrooms at her Gilbert Manor apartment, where she has lived since 1989. <br> <br> On Monday, at the request of several Augusta commissioners, Fire Chief Al Gillespie toured several Gilbert Manor apartments and determined they met local fire codes. <br> <br> The commissioners are trying to work out an exemption that would allow public housing residents without central air conditioning to keep cooling units in rooms with only one window.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/5/194696