The dark truth about health and the home
30th May 2017

UK residents living in dark homes are 27% more likely to report poor health conditions including asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, according to a Europe-wide survey carried out for Velux.

The Velux Healthy Homes Barometer goes on to say that Europeans who suffer energy poverty, i.e. they are unable to keep their homes comfortably warm in winter, are twice as likely to report poor health and nearly three times more likely to report damp in the home. It adds that people living in ‘unhealthy’ damp buildings in the UK are 34% more likely to suffer poor health.

Developed in collaboration with Ecofys, a Navigant company, Fraunhofer IBP, and Copenhagen Economics, the Velux Healthy Homes Barometer examines the effects of housing on the health of people living in countries across Europe, along with the associated costs to society and ways to tackle the problem.

On the back of the findings, the company is calling for buildings to become more energy efficient and for the UK’s housing stock to be brought up to par.

Grant Sneddon, Product Manager at Velux-GBI said: “We know instinctively that living in unhealthy surroundings is bad for our health. This study reveals to what extent those in the UK and Europe are suffering on account of their homes; and also the staggering financial costs to society of not bringing our aging housing stock up to par.”

Europeans living in an “unhealthy” building are more than 1.5 times (66%) more likely to report poor health, and 40% more likely to suffer from asthma, as those who do not.

The costs of unhealthy buildings are not just felt by individuals. The overall (direct and indirect) costs to European governments and societies of just two of the many diseases associated with damp living environments – asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease – reach a staggering EUR 82 billion per year.

http://www.velux.com/health/healthy-homes-barometer-2017