Sherman Boyer lives in a house with no air conditioning, except for two window units in the bedrooms. That barely helps. The 87-year-old Galveston resident told reporters she pays $400 a month to run those two units, which is about a quarter of her $1,500 monthly income from her late husband’s pension. The heat is so bad she has stopped using the second floor of her home.
“This heat now is a different heat,” Boyer said. “It’s hard to keep up with it.”
Boyer’s story is one small part of a bigger problem in Galveston. A 2023 Census Bureau report found that nearly 600 homes in the city, about 2.6%, lack any kind of air conditioning. The majority of those homes are in the city’s historically Black neighborhoods. There is no city rule requiring landlords to put in cooling systems, and buying one can be too expensive for renters and owners alike.
The cost of staying cool
Texas electricity prices have risen an average of 30% since 2020, the sharpest increase in the country. That matters in Galveston, where one in five homes were built before 1939. Those older homes tend to have less insulation, which means they hold heat better than they keep it out.
Extreme heat puts everyone at risk, but it hits hardest elderly people, babies, and anyone with a lasting health condition. From April to September this year, Galveston County had 238 heat-related emergency visits to the hospital, according to data tracked by the Houston Health Department.
Dangerously hot days — defined as days over 100 degrees in Galveston County — have more than doubled in the 30 years from 1993 to 2023, per FirstStreet, a firm that studies climate risk for public and private groups. The count of those days is expected to nearly double again in the next 30 years.
What the charities can do
Several nonprofits in Galveston County offer both air conditioning units and help with electric bills to people who need them. They include Boyer. But the groups say the need is far greater than what they can give.
BakerRipley’s LIHEAP work
BakerRipley, a nonprofit that serves residents in Galveston, Harris and Brazoria counties, is one of those groups. The group helps with LIHEAP, the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which pays some of the cost of electric and gas bills for low-income families.
BakerRipley gets 22,000 to 25,000 applications a year from all three counties. This year, it expects to help about 1,250 residents in Galveston County. Its largest payment can reach $1,800 for a family in need.
Why the money runs short
Glynniece Herron, program director for BakerRipley’s Utility Assistance, said the money goes further when it is bigger. With higher electricity prices, the number of months a family can stretch a payment has shrunk.
Someone who is eligible for $1,200 could have stretched that money to cover seven to eight months of bills in 2020. This year, that amount may cover only four to five months.
The LIHEAP budget has not kept pace with demand. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the budget reached $8.2 billion in 2021. Now it sits closer to $4 billion. President Donald Trump has proposed ending the program six times, and Congress has blocked those plans each time.
The numbers behind the need
The facts pile up:
- 2.6% of Galveston homes lack air conditioning, or about 600 homes
- Electricity costs have risen an average of 30% since 2020
- 238 heat-related hospital visits in Galveston County from April to September
- Hot days have more than doubled since 1993, and are expected to nearly double again in the next 30 years
- Less than 3% of eligible Texas households got help in 2024, the most recent data available
What happens next
Boyer got help earlier this summer from LIHEAP, which covered her electric and gas bills after they hit as high as $550 in the summer and $800 in the winter. She is one of the few lucky ones.
The groups serving her say the need is growing faster than their budgets can keep up. They want the government to raise the maximum payment allowed under LIHEAP so families can cover more months of bills.
Herron put it plainly. “It costs more now to live,” she said. “You’re trying to have your medications paid for, your food paid for, your house paid for, your car paid for, and every single one of those.”
The current system, as it stands, is not sustainable.
Source material: “In Galveston, demand for affordable Cooling is high, but resources are few,” Houston Public Media.
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