Australian houses have been compared to “winter tents” since they don’t provide enough heat to be considered a “safe” environment by the World Health Organization.
According to recent data, Australian homes seldom warm up to 18C, the minimum temperature suggested by the UN body for “healthy and well-balanced” indoor living, as an abnormally cold winter sends temperatures dropping.
Temperature monitors installed in 70 rental units revealed that 70% of the time, the residences were below 18C.
One home had nightly lows of about 6C, which isn’t much warmer than sleeping in a car.
Better Renting, a nonprofit organization, is conducting the study.
The outcomes, according to the group’s founder and executive director Joel Dignam, are extremely alarming.
‘Even in some relatively warmer parts of Australia, the average temperatures are still really low,’ Mr Dignam told the ABC.
‘So, in New South Wales and Victoria, the average temperature in the rental properties we’re tracking is still below 18C.’
University of Adelaide Professor of Housing Research Emma Baker said Australian houses were often poorly insulated because they were not designed to be heated.
‘Power used to be really cheap so Australian houses were basically designed as winter tents that you could pump a whole lot of energy into during winter and warm them up,’ Professor Baker said.
Now with energy prices skyrocketing people were struggling to pay the bills to keep warm.