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“Nearly 70 percent of New Yorkers with steam heat report being chronically overheated during the winter. Tenants are uncomfortable and landlords waste energy.”
Winter is upon us, and with that comes the classic New York struggle: arctic temperatures outside and sweltering, 90-degree apartments that have all of us opening our windows. In fact, nearly 70 percent of New Yorkers with steam heat report being chronically overheated during the winter. Tenants are uncomfortable and landlords waste energy.
It doesn’t have to be this way. In fact, buildings in many European countries also have older steam radiators, yet tenants in those apartments are able to easily keep their units comfortably temperate, but not tropical, during the winter. How? With a thermostatic radiator valve, a small plastic product that can be installed in under an hour and costs less than $25 on Amazon.
My organization, Tenants for Healthy Homes, sees an opportunity to improve tenants’ lives while also helping the city meet our energy efficiency goals. A thermostatic radiator valve allows tenants to control the temperature more precisely, preventing overheating and providing dignity and comfort in our apartments (these are different from the valves on most New York City radiators, which only allow for on/off control).
These valves, alongside common-sense maintenance like repairing broken heating system elements and leaks, installing indoor and outdoor thermometers, and insulating exposed pipes, would have an overall impact of keeping our apartments at a pleasant and comfortable temperature all winter long.
Luckily, landlords of rent-stabilized buildings are already required to make these upgrades under our city’s green buildings law, Local Law 97. Under Local Law 97, covered rent-stabilized landlords were required to have installed individual temperature controls, alongside other affordable changes, by August of 2025. All told, the low-cost suite of upgrades, which are not allowed to result in rent increases, would increase tenant comfort and reduce pollution from heating by 15 percent or more—while solving the problem of having to keep the windows open in February.
The law says that landlords have to install common-sense upgrades like these valves, but in practice, it’s not yet happening. As the director of Tenants for Healthy Homes, I organize with rent-stabilized tenants across New York City, and I am aware of only a small handful of buildings where the valves have been installed and these upgrades have occurred.
When I talk to fellow tenants, most don’t even know that we’re entitled to control our own heat, and there’s no way for tenants to let the city know if their landlord hasn’t made the required fixes (instead, landlords report compliance directly to the city, with no tenant involvement whatsoever). Local Law 97 enforcement and discussion has focused on owner-occupied buildings like co-ops and condos; little attention has been paid to the millions of renters who deserve, and are entitled to, comfortable, efficient homes.
Renters across New York City deserve homes that are comfortable, affordable, efficient, and safe. Radiator valves and comfortable winter temperatures are a small part of that, but when I talk with people across our neighborhoods, they are excited by the idea that their landlords and the city should deliver these fixes that allow us to live in homes that are more comfortable and more dignified, where we aren’t sweltering all winter long.
Our apartments are too hot—and when they’re not, they’re too cold, too polluted, or too poorly maintained. The millions of New Yorkers who live in rent-stabilized housing deserve all the benefits of efficiency, alongside all the benefits of habitable, well-maintained homes.
With these relatively simple interventions—and a focus on enforcement from the city—we might soon be able to get there.
Arielle Swernoff is the director of Tenants for Healthy Homes, a group of tenants coming together to advocate for policies that ensure our homes are comfortable, safe, energy efficient, and affordable.