Building for the future

ANALYSIS

We must build homes to withstand the weather of the future now.

It’s no secret that Victorians who experience disadvantages like poverty and rental stress tend to be locked out of safe, high-quality and comfortable housing.

High prices leave people with little choice about where to live, often forcing them into areas that expose them to higher temperatures and other climate-related harms. And in these areas, people get stuck with substandard and poorly maintained homes.

Energy efficiency standards help ensure new homes have critical, basic features that keep them comfortable and keep energy bills affordable: things like insulation, air tightness, efficient heating and cooling, and double-glazed windows.

However, most of Victoria’s homes were built before energy efficiency standards were introduced into the National Construction Code (NCC) in 2006. On the National House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS), these homes achieve an average rating of just 1.8 out of 10 stars.

Energy efficiency advocates refer to these homes as ‘tents’.

Homes built today, with stricter energy efficiency requirements, must achieve at least 7 stars under NatHERS.

This wide disparity creates a divide between those who can afford to live in efficient, healthy, comfortable homes and those who can’t. Newer or recently renovated homes command higher purchase or rental prices, locking out people on low incomes.

But lower quality homes tend to have higher running costs. This is a trap: while rents may be lower, energy bills are much higher. These homes also expose occupants to unhealthy indoor temperatures, often leading to poor health outcomes. 

And the situation is about to get much worse.

That’s because homes built today are constructed to withstand the temperatures of the past. They’re not built with a view to what temperatures will be in the coming decades, let alone 50+ years from now.

According to recent research, homes built to today’s 7-star standard could become as uncomfortable in the heatwaves of 2070 as today’s very inefficient homes are now. The homes we currently consider energy efficient will require more air conditioning to stay comfortable during heatwaves and in hotter day-to-day conditions.

homes built today are constructed to withstand the temperatures of the past. They’re not built with a view to what temperatures will be in the coming decades, let alone 50+ years from now.

This is obviously a problem on many levels. Not everyone can afford air conditioning, and people who do have it can’t always afford to use it. And using air conditioning is maladaptive, contributing to climate change and creating an endless feedback loop.

Reverse cycle air conditioners are efficient and can reduce this effect, particularly if they’re run on renewables, but this expensive technology is out of reach for many people.

And if homes that are currently considered ‘energy efficient’ are going to leave people unsustainably dependent on air conditioning in coming decades, this begs the question: what about the ‘tents’.

The answer is that they will be unlivable. And this will expose many of the most vulnerable people in our communities to far higher temperatures, to heat-related suffering, and even to death.

The way forward is to amend the NCC to require new homes to be built to withstand the temperatures of the coming decades, and to ensure that all Victorians – including those experiencing disadvantage – have equitable access to them.

VCOSS and others have called for this necessary change to the NCC in submissions to the Government’s Plan for Victoria, which presents an opportunity to build this kind of forward-looking planning into the state’s regulatory infrastructure and keep communities safe.  

If you’re a social justice advocate, the intersection between climate change and housing is an important one that affects everyone. VCOSS convenes a network of advocates in this space called the One Million Homes Alliance. Get in contact with Julianne Tice if you’d like to get involved.

You can read the research by Renew and Sweltering Cities here.