Moldy and damp floors that make Wellingtons sick, miserable and unproductive

Six months of living in a moldy Wellington apartment gave Charlotte Mebus-Leckie asthma.

The 23-year-old had always been healthy, but now the most mundane tasks are exhausting.

His health has been a victim of the city’s housing crisis, a problem exposed by Infometrics senior economist Brad Olsen.

Using data from the 2018 census, he found that Wellington exceeds the national averages for musty and damp homes without heating. It is a problem that affects the health and well-being of people, and levels of productivity.

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Nearly 12,700 Wellington homes are sometimes or always moldy, accounting for 18.4 percent of the capital’s housing stock, higher than the metropolitan and national averages of 18.1 and 16.9 percent.

Citywide, 24.2 percent of homes are wet, more than the metropolitan average of 22.6 percent and the national average of 21.5 percent.

Up to 40 percent of Aro Valley homes are damp, while up to one in four homes in central areas, including Mt Cook, Courtenay Place, Wellington Central and Dixon Street, are without heat.

His research comes as Wellington City Council establishes a plan to build thousands of homes through medium and high-density housing over the next 30 years.

But improvements to the city’s housing stock will come too late for Mebus-Leckie, who began to get sick more often and suffered from mental health problems while living on a musty and damp apartment.

Dehumidifiers and moisture absorbers were unable to keep moisture at bay, and she was horrified to discover that the inner lining of her pillow was riddled with mold.

Now asthma has permanently changed his life and he was diagnosed with severe depression while living in the Oriental Parade apartment.

She described her mental health as falling into a “dark, moldy hole” but hasn’t moved in because she knows other floors could have the same problems.

After years of sleeping in Wellington, Grace Carr, 20, is used to constantly feeling bad.

Your Kelburn apartment has mold on the ceilings and walls. She cleans it up, but comes back in a week.

“It grows on furniture and clothes,” he said. “It saddens me to know that this is reality. It makes me feel desperate. “

In winter, the interior walls of the pantry are damp from moisture and she is concerned about the circuit boards.

Mental health, as well as respiratory health, is affected by humidity and mold in the home, said Julian Crane, a professor at the University of Otago who specializes in asthma and respiratory diseases.

Up to 3 percent of people were allergic to mold, which can exacerbate asthma symptoms.

Poor quality housing has an impact on educational and health outcomes and ultimately reduces productivity, Olsen said.

Wellington City Councilor Tamatha Paul has lived in her own part of dank flats and heard many stories in her former role as president of the Victoria University student association.

“Everything that has to do with quality of life is derived from the situation of your housing,” he said. “People cannot be successful in their jobs, lives and studies if they are sick.”

Still, the best thing for the homeowner is to resolve the issues, said Sharon Cullwick, executive director of the New Zealand Property Investors Federation.

Tenants are protected by the Healthy Homes standards, which went into effect in July of last year.

But Paul said fear deterred some from reporting non-compliant landlords to the Leasing Court, whose decisions are publicly available.

“There is a fundamental imbalance between a tenant and a landlord,” he said.

For Olsen, the solution is simple.

“We need new, modern homes that are suited to Wellington’s weather and climate conditions.”