One in five NZ homes damp – report
Large portions of New Zealand’s housing stock are cold, mouldy and damp, making those that live in them more likely to have physical and mental health issues, according to an analysis of housing quality in New Zealand.
A snapshot of the state of housing in New Zealand has just been published in a report called Housing in Aotearoa: 2020, by Stats NZ and the Building Research Association of New Zealand (Branz).
The report said about 28,000 homes in New Zealand were reported to be always damp and always have visible mould. About 11,400 of those homes were in Auckland.
It found renters were more likely to experience dampness and mould than homeowners and Housing New Zealand homes were even more likely to be damp or mouldy (or both).
The report said 318,891 of New Zealand’s homes (21.5 per cent) were sometimes or always damp and 252,855 (16.9 per cent) had visible mould larger than an A4 sheet of paper at least some of the time.
More than two in five Ma¯ori and Pacific people lived in damp housing and were more likely to live in mouldy homes, it said. One in five New Zealanders lived in a home that was always or often too cold in winter, but that rose to about two in five for Pacific people.
The paper, based primarily on 2018
28,000 homes in New Zealand were reported to be always damp
data, looked in-depth at the state of housing in New Zealand with a focus on whether New Zealanders have access to suitable, affordable, warm, safe, and secure shelter.
As a result of concern around the effects of poor housing on health, additional questions around housing quality were, in 2018, added to both the Census and Stats NZ’S general social survey (GSS), which provides information on the well-being of New Zealanders aged 15 years and over.
Additionally, Stats NZ and the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment partnered with Branz to carry out about 800 housing inspections, to provide robust additional objective data.
The report seeks to address key questions identified in a 2009 Stats NZ review of housing statistics, and looks at how four dimensions of housing (habitability, affordability, suitability, and tenure security) are linked.
Habitability was a focus because research showed poor housing quality had an effect on physical and mental health, the report said.
The World Health Organisation says poor housing conditions are one of the mechanisms through which social and environmental inequality translates into health inequality, which further affects quality of life and well-being.
The paper cited research which shows cold, damp housing can result in higher seasonal mortality rates and higher incidence of both cardiovascular and respiratory disease. Damp housing also has the potential to increase dust mites and mould, both of which are allergenic, while crowded living conditions can be linked to asthma.
The report said about one in five homes were damp sometimes and one in six had mould larger than an A4 sheet of paper.
Housing problems, such as cold, damp, and mould, were more common among rentals, and households that did not have enough money for everyday needs, and had four or more household members, it said.
Owner-occupier households were more likely to have efficient heating appliances than rentals, it said. Rental houses were more likely to be smaller, to be in need of major repair, and less likely to have double glazing.