Abstract:

This research brief presents the need for indoor mechanical cooling in California homes and schools and a menu of strategies for increasing access. It focuses on two key heat exposure settings for children, homes and schools, because they are where children spend most of their time. Children are a particularly heat-vulnerable group, and access to cooling systems in their primary indoor environments is a life-saving heat intervention. Heat is a life-course disruptor because it is an accumulation of non-fatal disruptions that add up to threatening problems later in life. This report presents new data from the 2025 UCLA Luskin California Poll on challenges Californians face pertaining to heat in homes and schools. The researchers provide original policy analysis on strategies used in California and beyond, summarized as a list of potential strategies the state legislature can take to increase access to cooling systems in homes and schools.