The Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC) will no longer allow tenants to install window air conditioners after a toddler was killed by an AC unit that fell from an apartment window in Scarborough last month.
In a news release issued this week, TCHC confirmed that it has begun a “phased approach” to removing window air conditioners from units.
In the past, tenants could install window air conditioners with written permission from TCHC, a request that will no longer be approved.
“Tenants who currently have a window air conditioner contained within a balcony may continue to use them until further notice,” the TCHC said in a written statement on Monday.
The policy change comes weeks after two-year-old Crystal Mirogho was killed by an air conditioning unit that fell from a window at a TCHC complex on Lawrence Avenue East, near Mossbank Drive.
Shortly after 4 p.m. on Nov. 11, Mirogho, her mother, and her two siblings were entering the building when an AC unit came loose from a window on the eighth floor and landed directly on the toddler.
She was rushed to hospital in critical condition but later died.
“Sadly, we have seen how the risk of a window air conditioner becoming dislodged can have tragic consequences,” TCHC President and CEO Kevin Marshman said in a written statement released Monday.
“We are taking steps to protect the safety of tenants, staff and visitors to our buildings and are asking for the cooperation of tenants as we implement these measures.”
The public housing agency said work began on Nov. 28 to remove window AC units at multi-storey buildings and Building Up, a TCHC vendor with experience in air conditioner removal, has been hired to complete the work by Dec. 25.
The TCHC said it will replace each window air conditioner that it removes with a floor-mounted model before the start of the 2020 cooling season at no additional cost to the tenant.
