B.C.'s low-income renters facing hurdles while trying to access free AC units

Landlords are creating hurdles for some vulnerable people in B.C. who are trying to access a free air conditioner through a new government initiative, according to advocates.

Summer isn't fun for Surrey, B.C., renter Inderjit Singh Ghuman.

It means restless nights with his wife and son in an overheating ground-floor basement suite that lacks air conditioning.

“It was really uncomfortable here in my unit. It was hot and my family couldn't sleep in the nighttime,” Ghuman said, referring to July. “It's tough here on hot days.”

His 18-year-old son has been struggling to study in stifling conditions in recent weeks.

Ghuman, 48, has been taking medication for anxiety and depression, and he worries that a lack of rest is making matters worse.

When he heard the B.C. government was providing free air conditioners to vulnerable people, Ghuman thought his sleepless nights were over.

Instead, he encountered a hurdle that is preventing some vulnerable people from accessing the program - the involvement of landlords.