People living in public housing will be able to keep getting help paying high summer air conditioning bills after federal authorities reversed a decision last spring to not assist low-income residents with cooling costs. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development initially told public housing authorities nationwide that agen-cy rules didn't allow federal utility allowances to pay for operating air conditioners, although they can be used to install the unit, said Emily Nottingham, director of the city Community Services Department. HUD does allow heating costs to be covered by public housing programs, which concerned Arizona authorities, who argued our extreme heat can be just as dangerous as extreme cold elsewhere. Because Tucson, along with other Arizona cities, appealed the HUD decision last spring, the local public housing office continued to pay tenants a stipend to cover some of their cooling costs, so residents were not affected by the decision. Tucson has 1,500 public housing units, and 337 of those homes and apartments have air conditioning that could have been affected, Nottingham said. Public housing tenants now pay their utility bills and receive a monthly check reimbursing part of their expenses, ranging from $17 a month for a one-bedroom unit to $55 for a six-bedroom home. The most common reimbursement is $31 a month for a three-bedroom, single-family home. HUD's new position is that local public housing authorities can make exemptions for the "appropriate special needs of elderly, ill or disabled residents, or special factors affecting utility usage not within the control of the resident," according to a letter from HUD Assistant Secretary Steven B. Nesmith to Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain. "There was no real change in policy, just a better understanding of what the existing policy said," said HUD spokesman Larry Bush. "I don't think anyone was questioning that air conditioning was an important quality-of-life factor in housing standards.