Record heat and aging housing are putting Miami's low-income renters at risk, study shows

Months after South Florida baked through a record-breaking summer marked by relentless heat advisories, soaring energy bills, and indoor temperatures that became unbearable for thousands, a growing body of research is making one thing clear: for people living in older, under-resourced affordable housing, extreme heat is not just uncomfortable; it’s dangerous.

“Extreme heat is the deadliest climate impact and is colliding with the nation’s long-standing shortage in safe, affordable housing for people with the lowest incomes,” said Zoe Middleton, a co-author of the “ Colliding Crises ” report by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and associate director for climate resilience at UCS.

In Miami and across the country, that collision is playing out inside aging, poorly insulated apart