Dry houses save lives, says doctor

Roger Tuck says sick children are often living in unhealthy homes. Photo / John Stone

Cold, damp homes are having a "devastating" effect on children and a Northland doctor is backing a warrant of fitness for all rentals.

It comes a week after a coroner found a damp Auckland state house played a part in the death of 2-year-old Emma-Lita Bourne.

Northland District Health Board paediatrician Roger Tuck said such houses had a "devastating" impact on children.

"[Tuesday's] busy clinic [Child Health Centre at Whangarei Hospital] was a typical morning - too many children with rheumatic heart disease, skin infections and chronic respiratory illness," Dr Tuck said.

The sick children he treated on a daily basis were often living in unhealthy homes, Dr Tuck said.

In 2013, Northland DHB surveyed whanau with sick children in Whangarei Hospital. Seventy per cent said they had mould or damp in their houses and 47 per cent were crowded.

About half of the crowded houses had insufficient bedrooms; the other half couldn't afford to heat the whole house so slept in one room in winter to keep warm.

There was a strong link between economic hardship, housing overcrowding, material deprivation and rheumatic fever prevalence.

"As Northland has close to the highest rate of rheumatic fever in New Zealand, this would support the idea that our children and whanau are really struggling," Dr Tuck said.

The coroner's report into Emma-Lita Bourne's death in Starship Hospital in August last year after a pneumonia-like illness renewed calls for a warrant of fitness for all rental homes.

"We do, though, strongly advocate for the introduction of warrant of fitness for all rental houses in New Zealand and are pleased to see the Government's latest consideration of this," Dr Tuck said.

Green Party MP Metiria Turei said a warrant of fitness should provide renters with insulated, heated homes, with ventilation, safe electrical wiring and properly connected drains. "Enforcing these standards would mean no Kiwi family would have to live in a mouldy, cold, damp rental house, which is a health hazard," she said.

In the past week, Prime Minister John Key indicated a warrant of fitness programme for rental homes could go ahead. However, it would likely be limited to insulation and working smoke alarms.

One of the most significant projects to address the issue of unhealthy homes was the Healthy Homes Tai Tokerau project, Dr Tuck said. During the past six years, more than 7000 Northland homes have been insulated for free as part of the project, which is 60 per cent government-funded, although the funding is set to end next June.

"The health and lives of many of our children and other vulnerable people depend on this. We desperately need the government funding to continue," Dr Tuck said.