Renters feel housing conditions can't be improved

Fourth-year medical students from the University of Otago conducted interviews with 80 renters and 80 homeowners.

Student Faye Sherlaw said while renters and owners had the same level of knowledge of how housing conditions could affect their families’ health, renters perceived themselves as having less ability to improve those conditions.

“Research has shown that housing conditions such as cold, damp, mould, injury hazards and overcrowding are associated with poor health. It’s important that people have knowledge about these conditions but, equally critically, they need to have the power to act on it. Our study suggests often they don’t, especially if they’re renting,” she said.

Interviews with renters revealed that the main barriers to improving their situation were money and landlords preventing them making improvements to their homes, she said.

Both renters and homeowners identified government subsidies for insulation and for other housing improvements as top interventions that would help them improve their housing conditions.

A warrant of fitness on housing and more information about how to keep their house healthy and safe for children were also frequently cited as desired interventions.

Department of Public Health Professor Michael Baker said the findings provided valuable insights into the differences in levels of empowerment between renters and homeowners.

“This unique research is a strong reminder that it is not enough to simply exhort parents to provide their children with healthy, safe housing. These parents know this already.  What they need is concrete policies and programmes that encourage landlords to do the right thing and upgrade their housing. This means continuing subsides to support home insulation, introducing a housing warrant of fitness, and other actions to rapidly improve the quality of rental housing which is where most of our vulnerable children are living.”