Low income families being forced to spend lockdown in cold damp
houses have a greater risk of contracting Covid-19 and dying from it, a
Wellington housing body says.
Photo: RNZ / Richard Tindiller
Dr Roger Blakeley from the Wellington Regional Healthy Housing Group
(WRHHG) said overseas research shows people on lower incomes are more
likely to have respiratory illnesses associated with poor housing which
makes them more vulnerable to the disease.
Already more than 1000 children are hospitalised each year due to illnesses from bad housing, he said.
"The Covid-19 lockdown has highlighted that being at home is not as safe for some as it is for others," he said.
''The worst affected people are children, lower socio-economic groups
and Māori and Pacific communities are the ones who have the highest
incidence of problems associated with cold, damp housing.''
The Deputy Director of He Kainga Oranga/ Housing and Health Research
Programme at University of Otago, Nevil Pierse, said research showed
that insulating houses was very effective in reducing hospitalisations
from respiratory conditions.
He urged the government to invest in 'shovel-ready' projects that will upgrade and insulate New Zealand's housing stock.
The WRHHG supported a proposal by its member organisation the
Sustainability Trust for $25 million in funding from the government over
four years to insulate 10,000 homes.
Dr Blakeley said work like this would also generate jobs and
stimulate the economy, and there were also significant economic benefits
to preventing people getting sick in the first place.
"We have this opportunity to change the trajectory for many
vulnerable families if we invest in retrofitting current housing stock.
The government response to Covid-19 must prioritise warm, dry, safe
housing for all," he said.
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