Rental-Insights-A-COVID-19-Collection - Flipbook - Page 28
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RENTAL INSIGHTS:
UNHEALTHY HOUSING
UNHEALTHY HOUSING
Lyrian Daniel
The University of Adelaide
1/4 Australian renters
live in housing that
makes
XXX them sick
XXX
Key findings
Why is it important?
Who is most affected?
In 2020, 23 per cent of
renters were unable to
keep warm in their home
during cold weather,
27 per cent reported
problems with mould,
and 21 per cent reported
problems of dampness.
Some of Australia’s top disease burdens
are caused or exacerbated by exposure
to cold, mouldy and damp housing.
For example, approximately 2.7 million
Australians had asthma in 2017–18,
and it is the leading burden of disease
for children aged between 5 and 14
years old.12
Many of those reporting cold, mouldy
and damp housing were among the
people that we may expect to have
poor housing conditions—public and
community housing tenants, single
and couple-parent households,
people living in share houses, and
those on lower incomes—though
there were some surprises. Younger
households (18–49 years old) were
disproportionately exposed to cold,
mouldy and damp housing compared
to respondents aged over 50 years
old. While cold housing was graded
by household income, we see high
rates from the very lowest income
households (29%) to even the very
highest income households (15%).
Shockingly, the prevalence of cold,
mould and damp was much higher
among people with the worst health
(Figure 1). Among the respondents who
had asthma, the rates of cold (27%),
mould (35%) and damp (28%) were even
higher than among the broader sample.
‘My boy got ill because of the
allergies that came from mould
from carpet’
Younger households
(18–49 years old) were
disproportionately
exposed to cold,
mouldy and damp
housing compared
to respondents aged
over 50 years old.
12
‘[I have] continuous bronchitis
and breathing difficulties from
living in damp, wet, cold and
mouldy housing’
During a time when many of us are
spending significant amounts of our
days at home, whether due to formal
COVID-19 restrictions or changes
in work and study arrangements,
the health and safety of our home
environments has never been
more important.
The experience of cold, mouldy
and damp housing was also reflected
in respondents’ assessment of the
overall quality of their home; prevalence
ranging from 8–11 per cent in ‘Excellent’
quality houses to 69–78 per cent in
‘Very Poor’ quality houses.
‘Due to the bad insulation it is
incredibly cold in winter’
‘The floorboards are coming
apart, the dust and cold air
come straight in’
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) (2018), National Health Survey: First Results, 2017–18, ABS cat. no. 4364.0.55.001, ABS, Canberra.
