Half of homes damp and mouldy
Homes with damp carpets, mouldy curtains and draughty windows, bedrooms below 10 degrees Celsius, and families sleeping in the lounge to stay warm are all too common, a healthy housing advocate says.
Sustainability Options coowner Nik Gregg said Kiwis were a hardy people who had grown to accept that being a nation of wooden tents was OK – but it was not. ‘‘When you have 87,000 people going into hospital because of respiratory conditions, many of which have come about due to living conditions, it is not acceptable.’’ Gregg, who works with the Ministry of Health on its healthy homes initiative, said too many renters and homeowners lived in homes that were substandard.
He said that reality was reflected in a new report, commissioned by The Warehouse, which revealed that 46 per cent of people lived in homes that were damp and mouldy.
The report, which surveyed 1002 people, also found that more than half (57 per cent) had issues related to mould, dampness, heating, and insulation in their homes. Those issues included such problems as the presence of mould, poor or no insulation, gaps in floorboards, walls or windows, no heating in the main living area or bedrooms, or no hot water.
Condensation was also a problem, with 37 per cent reporting regular condensation on windows during winter and 29 per cent needing to remove it daily. The situation was worse for young people and renters. Sixty-five per cent of people under the age of 35, many of whom would be living in rental properties, reported they were living in homes which had
issues with mould, damp, heating or insulation. Renters were twice as likely to report the presence of mould in their home as homeowners and were twice as likely to rate their home as not being warm or dry or as not having efficient lighting or heating.
Twenty-one per cent of renters reported the presence of mould in their homes, compared with 11 per cent of homeowners. Gregg said the survey findings echoed what they saw every day as they tried to improve housing conditions for at-risk families.
‘‘We need to change the culture around our poor housing conditions. That starts with people sharing their experiences and getting help to address issues like condensation, which is a symptom of a broader problem, and heating.’’
‘‘We need to change the culture around our poor housing conditions.’’ Nik Gregg
Healthy housing advocate