**Analysis also shows same number would probably not be able to afford cost of improved insulation**
Almost 10m households across the UK are living in cold, damp and poorly insulated homes while not earning enough to be able to make improvements to them, according to analysis.
A total of 34% of UK households or 9.6m are living in cold, poorly insulated homes, according to analysis of the English Housing Survey by the Institute of Health Equity and Friends of the Earth.
These 9.6m households also have an income below the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s minimum standard for a decent living, meaning it is unlikely they would be able to afford the costs of adding insulation to their homes.
I dunno what the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s minimum standard for a decent living is set at but I do know you need to have a fuck tonne of money to be able to afford any kind of quality internal or external wall insulation.
If energy prices don’t go down by quite a substantial amount I can see the value of old houses falling through the floor. Then you’ll have people trapped in freezing houses, unable to move, and all the negative health effects that rise from that.
I can see daylight round the edges of my front door. The frame is knackered. I ask my Landlord for it to be fixed.
​
My rent goes up £100 per month as a result.
The place stays drafty for now.
I don’t know why the houses here are so crap in insulation. Everytime I went on holiday to europe (countries way colder than UK), my airbnb is always so warm with the heating off despite it being -15 outside.
So UK population @ 67 million.
Proportion of UK population that are working class ~49%.
Roughly 10 million living in unsuitable conditions, almost certainly all going to be working class.
Roughly 1 in 3.5 working class people living in unsuitable conditions.
Gotta rule out the middle and upper classes who have the wealth to purchase their own home and maintain it how they please.
Although there will be a segment of middle class households who earn enough to own their home but not enough to maintain their property adequately. A small percentage I’m sure as mortgages cost less than rent.
Yet to see a HMO which isn’t riddled by damp. Still takes half my salary however
I’m one of them. There’s a gap under the front door and on a windy day leaves and whatever elde is in the street blow underneath it and into the house. The house takes about an hour to heat up with the radiators on, but then it’s cold again within another hour. You can see your breath in the kitchen. There’s damp. There’s mould. When it rains, a puddle emerges from behind the toilet in the kitchen. Nothing but excuses and delays from the landlord because he doesn’t want to spend the money he makes from his (at least) 7 other properties. Wanker.
Which is why we desperately need a landlord register, an independent inspection board, and a minimum level of housing standards enshrined in law that anyone who rents out property should be held accountable to.
Yeah but people who are high enough up the hierarchy of needs that they can worry about the ‘character’ of someone else’s home have decided that they don’t like windows that look almost identical but with two panes of glass. So bollocks to me, I guess.
I live in one of those. The joys of rural renting where everything liveable has been turned into an airbnb and us workers just have to be happy that we actually have somewhere to stay. Cold, drafty, damp and expensive with nowhere to go apart from back to the city.
Main reason is landlords, I’ve done so much work as an electrician for many landlords and one in particular owns 10k houses, every single one has issues with mould and the landlord couldn’t care less
Here I am in my cosy new build. But Reddit assures me it will fall down any minute now.
I am so incredibly glad my wife and I bought a home built in 2020 who’s energy rating is now 95 (yes, 95). People warned us on getting a new build home but the savings and comfort we’ve gotten from the insulation put in has been priceless.
Is anyone going to mention that EPC calculation methods changed last year so it’s inevitable that more houses will drop below C. That doesn’t automatically mean they’re now cold.
Properties heated by electricity can expect to achieve an improved EPC rating, whilst gas-heated properties can expect to remain the same or even see a small deterioration.
As majority of uk is gas, more will now get a lower rating this year as opposed to this time last.
The UK needs bold changes. The country is full of identical and crap terraced houses and semis that just need to be knocked down and rebuilt at higher density. Start with London and you’ll also solve the housing crisis while you’re at it.
15 comments
**Analysis also shows same number would probably not be able to afford cost of improved insulation**
Almost 10m households across the UK are living in cold, damp and poorly insulated homes while not earning enough to be able to make improvements to them, according to analysis.
A total of 34% of UK households or 9.6m are living in cold, poorly insulated homes, according to analysis of the English Housing Survey by the Institute of Health Equity and Friends of the Earth.
These 9.6m households also have an income below the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s minimum standard for a decent living, meaning it is unlikely they would be able to afford the costs of adding insulation to their homes.
I dunno what the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s minimum standard for a decent living is set at but I do know you need to have a fuck tonne of money to be able to afford any kind of quality internal or external wall insulation.
If energy prices don’t go down by quite a substantial amount I can see the value of old houses falling through the floor. Then you’ll have people trapped in freezing houses, unable to move, and all the negative health effects that rise from that.
I can see daylight round the edges of my front door. The frame is knackered. I ask my Landlord for it to be fixed.
​
My rent goes up £100 per month as a result.
The place stays drafty for now.
I don’t know why the houses here are so crap in insulation. Everytime I went on holiday to europe (countries way colder than UK), my airbnb is always so warm with the heating off despite it being -15 outside.
So UK population @ 67 million.
Proportion of UK population that are working class ~49%.
Roughly 10 million living in unsuitable conditions, almost certainly all going to be working class.
Roughly 1 in 3.5 working class people living in unsuitable conditions.
Gotta rule out the middle and upper classes who have the wealth to purchase their own home and maintain it how they please.
Although there will be a segment of middle class households who earn enough to own their home but not enough to maintain their property adequately. A small percentage I’m sure as mortgages cost less than rent.
Yet to see a HMO which isn’t riddled by damp. Still takes half my salary however
I’m one of them. There’s a gap under the front door and on a windy day leaves and whatever elde is in the street blow underneath it and into the house. The house takes about an hour to heat up with the radiators on, but then it’s cold again within another hour. You can see your breath in the kitchen. There’s damp. There’s mould. When it rains, a puddle emerges from behind the toilet in the kitchen. Nothing but excuses and delays from the landlord because he doesn’t want to spend the money he makes from his (at least) 7 other properties. Wanker.
Which is why we desperately need a landlord register, an independent inspection board, and a minimum level of housing standards enshrined in law that anyone who rents out property should be held accountable to.
Yeah but people who are high enough up the hierarchy of needs that they can worry about the ‘character’ of someone else’s home have decided that they don’t like windows that look almost identical but with two panes of glass. So bollocks to me, I guess.
I live in one of those. The joys of rural renting where everything liveable has been turned into an airbnb and us workers just have to be happy that we actually have somewhere to stay. Cold, drafty, damp and expensive with nowhere to go apart from back to the city.
Main reason is landlords, I’ve done so much work as an electrician for many landlords and one in particular owns 10k houses, every single one has issues with mould and the landlord couldn’t care less
Here I am in my cosy new build. But Reddit assures me it will fall down any minute now.
I am so incredibly glad my wife and I bought a home built in 2020 who’s energy rating is now 95 (yes, 95). People warned us on getting a new build home but the savings and comfort we’ve gotten from the insulation put in has been priceless.
Is anyone going to mention that EPC calculation methods changed last year so it’s inevitable that more houses will drop below C. That doesn’t automatically mean they’re now cold.
Properties heated by electricity can expect to achieve an improved EPC rating, whilst gas-heated properties can expect to remain the same or even see a small deterioration.
As majority of uk is gas, more will now get a lower rating this year as opposed to this time last.
The UK needs bold changes. The country is full of identical and crap terraced houses and semis that just need to be knocked down and rebuilt at higher density. Start with London and you’ll also solve the housing crisis while you’re at it.