Half of children in England live in houses at risk of overheating

While the United Kingdom has warmer temperatures, families across the country are feeling more and more the impact, their houses are no longer a sanctuary but an unbearable space that many are desperate to escape.

Keisha says that his upper floor apartment can reach up to 43 ° C in summer and that the basic temperature is around 31 ° C.

“It should be illegal to live in these conditions,” said the 36 -year -old player, one of the many parents who say that living in a “unbearably” hot apartment makes their children sick.

Nearly 5.5 million children – more than half of those in England – live in houses at risk of overheating, according to a new analysis of the English Housing Survey 2022 by the reflection group of the Resolution Foundation. More than a million of these children live in London, mainly in social housing.

Keisha lives in his new construction dish in Woolwich, southeast of London, for eight years.

Her nine -year -old daughter is struggling in the heat, “unable to regulate her temperature”.

“She doesn’t feel good, her belly often hurts.”

“The other evening, he was 20 degrees outside and she was crying at 3 am. I take liters of endless water in her room just to calm her down.”

Keisha often walks in the streets at night or rolls in an air -conditioned car to escape heat. She says that air conditioning for her apartment is unaffordable, and was cited £ 8,000 per room to install it.

The Keisha’s Housing Association says that when the block was built, “it respected all planning and construction regulations at the time, with most properties in the United Kingdom, with the extreme temperatures that we see now, these buildings have not been designed or built in a way that would keep them cool”.

Certain housing associations are “extremely aware” of the risk of overheating houses and develop strategic climate adaptation plans to combat the risks posed by hot summers, according to Alistair Smyth, director of policies and research at the National Housing Federation.

“We are committed to working with the government on this issue and we support a national overheating strategy, with appropriate financing solutions, so that new and existing houses can be adapted to resist future climate change,” he told BBC London.

The Foundation Resolution, an independent reflection group focused on improving the living levels of those who have low to midfielders, urges the government to ensure that the costs of remedying hot houses are affordable.

“Many people cannot afford to make their properties cooler,” said the main economist Jonathan Marshall.

Houses in the United Kingdom are built to keep heat in a temperate climate, with energy efficiency regulations for new dwellings now requiring improved insulation to reduce the need for heating in winter.

“An effort [is needed] By making the houses greener – insulating the houses but doing it in a way that does not make them overheated in summer, “explains Mr. Marshall.

Analysis of the foundation on the figures for the Housing in English 2022 shows that more than half of children in England live in houses at risk of overheating.

“This is not only a problem that will occur in mid-July a day of 35 degrees. If it reached the 1920s in early spring or at the end of autumn, the houses could overheat too.”

The mother of two, Sarah, who lives in Islington, north of London, says that she recorded 43 ° C this summer in her living room, but thinks that the rooms reach even higher temperatures. She says she spends more electricity in summer, at the supply fans of their two -bedroom apartment than in winter.

“‘It makes children sick – they have no appetite. It affects our sleep.”

The block is surrounded by scaffolding due to the revenge of the correction work. Sarah says it is a problem to open the windows because they have increased intruders on scaffolding and workers outside every day.

“Summers will become longer and warmer. Families cannot live our way of life. The quantity of fans that we have 24/7 – it helps but it is not a solution.”

His daughter Maddie, 18, says that it wreaked havoc on her social life, because people do not want to go to the apartment.

“You can feel quite nauseating. I had dehydration headaches.

“I leave the room in the morning and I say:” Mom, feel my clothes “- it’s as if they had come out of a line of laundry.”

His brother, six, says that the heat made him physically ill.

More than a million of the 5.5 million estimated children living in houses at risk of overheating are in London.

“The question of space is more acute in cities, especially in London, where the houses are smaller,” explains Mr. Marshall. “Small houses are much more likely to overheat.”

He adds that houses with a single appearance, with windows only at the front of a room, are partly hot due to a lack of air flow.

Dr. Amaran Uthayakumar-Cumarasamy is a pediatrician of the NHS and member of the Camity of the Medact Health Campaign.

He says that signs that a child has become overheated can include confusion, altered mental state, irritability, high central temperature and nausea.

“Given the climate crisis and extreme heat becomes worse year by year, there has never been more urgent time to take measures on our stock of dangerous and unhealthy housing in the United Kingdom.”

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health has urged national and local governments to work with the housing sector to “adapt to thermal stress as well as cold and humidity in our stock of current and future housing, which has an impact on children’s health”.

“Young children are more vulnerable to heat -related diseases,” said Helena Clements, her climate change officer.

“While temperatures increase through the United Kingdom, heat will become an increasing consideration for pediatricians.

“More attention must be given to awareness of heat risks and negative impacts on early life and during pregnancy, families encouraged to follow government advice to keep children cool.”

The 2022 summer heat wave was one of the most intense recorded in the United Kingdom and caused 4,500 heat-related deaths, according to The Office for National Statistics.

Up to 10,000 people in the United Kingdom could die each year by 2050 from heat -related diseases if no action is taken to adapt to our warming climate – although cold weather can also be the cause of excess death.

The country faces an “architectural crisis”, explains Andy Love, founding director of Shade The UK.

The company of community interest has teamed up with the London School of Economics to put pressure for a friendly metric of overheating, similar to energy performance certificates which assess the energy efficiency of a property, so that tenants and buyers include the risk of heat for buildings before deciding whether to move.

Mr. Love adds that many houses in the United Kingdom have been built for temperate climates, and “do not work properly in hot weather”, including blocks with “ceiling and ceiling glazing, houses with a single appearance”.

In the short term, Mr. Love recommends putting a wet towel through the window to act like a blocker in the direct sun and leave the windows open when it is cool in the evening to bring the air for the morning.

A government spokesperson said: “We invest 13.2 billion pounds to improve up to five million houses compared to this parliament, strengthening the energy efficiency of housing to deal with higher temperatures.

“We also take measures to strengthen climate resilience between government and local communities, improving our infrastructure and ensuring that houses are fit in the future.”

The government plans to define its approach to overheating and cooling in the hot house plan, which will be published in October, and the future Homes standard.