Rental-Insights-A-COVID-19-Collection - Flipbook - Page 29
RENTAL INSIGHTS:
UNHEALTHY HOUSING
What is the relevance
to Australian policy?
Overall, these findings suggest
widespread problems of cold, mould and
damp that have, historically, been underacknowledged in the Australian context.
These early findings from the 2020
Australia Housing Survey add to
the mounting body of evidence
demonstrating that the poorest housing
conditions occur in the public and
private rental sectors.
Importantly, individuals and households
who rent often face overlapping social
and economic disadvantage, which
means that interventions must be
carefully designed and targeted to
overcome these multiple barriers.
The current move of some states
towards mandating minimum housing
standards within the private market
represents promising early steps,
however it is likely that a suite of
targeted policy intervention measures
will be needed to assist those who are
most vulnerable.
Housing problems by self-assessed general health
Mould
Damp
30%
Proportion affected
Remediation of cold, mouldy and
damp housing presents significant
opportunity to improve population health
and wellbeing, which may also realise
savings across other health and welfare
services. As we emerge from pandemicrelated economic and social shutdowns,
investment in improving material
conditions across the whole of our
housing stock presents an opportunity to
stimulate the construction sector while
also providing population-wide benefits.
Remediation
of cold, mouldy
and damp housing
presents significant
opportunity to
improve population
health and wellbeing.
40%
Cold
28
20%
cold
mould
10%
damp
0%
Excellent
Very good
Good
Fair
Self-assessed general health
Poor