The report also warns that when it comes to work, older workers are a particular risk of heat stress
Over a third of England’s homes will be at high risk of overheating, as climate change means temperatures reach new extremes, with poorer households most at risk, a new study warns.
The Resolution Foundation has released a new report, ‘It’s getting hot in here’, which highlights the dangerous impact of increasing heat on households. The report’s authors state: “At current summer temperatures, a fifth of homes in England overheat, but the make-up of the housing stock means that one-third (36 per cent) have attributes that put them at high risk of overheating in the future.
“Additionally, more than half (54 per cent) of the poorest fifth of English families, three-times as many as among the richest fifth (18 per cent), live in homes liable of getting too hot, while two-thirds of socially-renting households, six-in-ten of those with young children, and more than half of ethnic-minority families have the highest risk of their homes getting too hot as the nation warms.”
The report also warns that when it comes to work, older workers are a particular risk of heat stress, with ‘31 per cent of those in jobs liable to cause heat stress are aged over 50 – and office workers in less deprived areas are more likely to be able to be kept cool by air conditioning at work than those in more deprived places’.
The warning comes at a time when the UN General Secretary is warning that the era of global warming has ended and “the era of global boiling has arrived”. July was the hottest month ever recorded, with temperatures exceeding 50C in the US and in China, and extensive wildfires in Mediterranean countries.
Overheating homes pose a number of health dangers, including heat exhaustion and heat stroke, cardiovascular and respiratory issues, and sleep disturbance and mental health problems.
While London is at particular risk when it comes to overheating homes, the report also warns that ‘in the future the issue will be even worse in some parts of England than it already is in the capital, with the share of homes at high risk greatest in Yorkshire and the Humber (38 per cent) and the South East (39 per cent).’
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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