24 January 2006

Taranaki to Lead the Way in Providing Healthy Homes

A comprehensive programme to provide healthy homes to all residents in Taranaki will be a first for New Zealand.

Healthy Homes Taranaki aims to have all houses in Taranaki healthy, safe and energy efficient by 2014.

“Nowhere else in New Zealand has such a project taken place,” says New Plymouth District Mayor Peter Tennent.

“Other retrofitting projects exist but not on this scale and not with the number and range of strategic partners that we have here. By taking a comprehensive, multi-agency approach to home insulation and safety, we aim to greatly improve the lives of our residents.”

Healthy Homes Taranaki is a collaborative partnership between the Energy Efficiency Conservation Authority (EECA), Better Homes (formerly Waitara Initiatives Supporting Employment – WISE), Pinnacle Taranaki Primary Health Organisation, New Plymouth District Council, Work and Income New Zealand (part of the Ministry of Social Development), Housing New Zealand Corporation, Accident Compensation Corporation and the Taranaki District Health Board.

This comprehensive programme follows the Better Homes pilot project which saw 100 cold and draughty homes in Waitara improved through insulation in 2000.

“The pilot project showed there were definite benefits to be had from improving the internal ambient temperatures in these Waitara homes, such as fewer respiratory issues,” says Better Homes General Manager Steve Wharehoka, adding that the pilot is now a case study in the Wellington School of Medicine’s Healthy Housing research.

“We now want to bring these benefits to all homes in Taranaki, and the Healthy Homes Taranaki programme is the way to do it.

“This is particularly important when you consider that of the roughly 39,000 homes in Taranaki, 29,000 – or 73 per cent – were built before 1977, and therefore were built with no insulation,” he says.

The Healthy Homes Taranaki programme will:
- Insulate 10,000 homes within a 10-year period.
- Ensure the internal temperatures of homes reach satisfactory health and safety standards.
- Increase the inhabitants’ opportunity to participate in work, education and play.
- Reduce the number of GP visits and hospitalisation as a consequence of unhealthy homes and unsafe environments.
- Increase the knowledge of economic benefits in energy management and practice.
- Improve the overall health and social well-being of the inhabitants.

The programme will be targeted at home owners, landlords and inhabitants of homes built before 1977; people with health issues relating to their housing conditions; people on low incomes; young families and elderly people; and Maori and Pacific Island households.

People can either contact the service directly to enquire about the programme, or can be referred to the service through agencies such as ACC, the Taranaki District Health Board, Tui Ora Ltd, Hauora Taranaki PHO, their GP or WINZ.

The work undertaken in each home will depend on the needs of the dwelling and the tenants, says Mr Wharehoka.

Full retrofitting can include roof and under floor insulation and moisture barrier, draught-proof doors and windows, cylinder wraps, energy saving light bulbs and pipe lagging.

The project will also ensure the installation of fire alarms; as well as safety latches and security stays for houses with young children, and grab rails and barriers for elderly and less mobile home inhabitants.

“We will also refer tenants on to other programmes and services which are appropriate, such as KidSafe, the Slips, Trips and Falls programme, relevant health professionals or WINZ,” says Andrew Brock, Chief Executive Officer of Pinnacle Taranaki Primary Health Organisation.

“We’re taking a one-stop-shop approach to general health and safety issues so that anything that can affect a person’s ability to be healthy and take part in the wider community is addressed in one go.”

Work on the first homes has already begun, but the official start to the project will be next month.

- Reporters and photographers are welcome to attend the launch of Healthy Homes Taranaki. The programme will be launched by Green Party Co-Leader Jeanette Fitzsimons at 11am on Monday 19 February at the Civic Centre, Liardet St, New Plymouth. Keynote speaker will be Professor Phillipa Howden Chapman, Programme Director of He Kainga Oranga/Housing and Health Research Programme and Principal Investigator for the Housing, Insulation and Health Study and the Housing, Heating and Health Study. Additional presentations will take place by Brian Jeffares, Taranaki Electricity Trust; Colleen Tuuta, TSB Community Trust; and Mike Fairfield, Energy Efficiency Conservation Authority.

The health of homes in Taranaki

Research has shown that:

- There are about 39,000 homes in Taranaki. Of these, 29,000 (73 percent) were built pre-1977, and therefore were built with no insulation.
- Homes that are not insulated lose 42 per cent of their heat through roofs, 24 per cent through walls, 12 per cent through windows and 10 per cent through the floor.
- $260 million dollars is the total energy spend in Taranaki per annum. Of this, $34m is for domestic energy alone.

- The World Health Organisation recommends a minimum housing temperature of 18ºC for adults (although for the elderly and young children the temperature should be higher). At least one-third of New Zealand homes fall below this level, and average household winter temperature inside homes is 16ºC or below (EECA/BRANZ research).
- One in four children in New Zealand suffer from asthma and this results in 55,000 days off school per annum. (For Taranaki this is about 1,400 school days per annum.)
- The indirect cost of asthma to New Zealand is $700m per year (through illness, lost work days and premature death).

- In 2004, Taranaki Work and Income paid out $411,000 in advance payments for gas and electricity charges. This fell to $340,000 in 2005 (as a result of Working for Families).
- One hundred and three people in the Taranaki region receive a sickness benefit as a consequence of respiratory illness.
- Homes that are not insulated are cold, draughty, damp and generally have poor air quality.
- A home can expect to save about $250 in power bills per annum through improved insulation.

ENDS

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