Students are having to make compromises on food and other necessities to combat the damp and cold living conditions many have to live in.
A survey of 522 tertiary students by researchers from the University of Otago in Wellington has found 35 percent of students had mould larger than an A4 sheet of paper growing in their houses at least some of the time, compared to 17 percent of the general population.
Almost half (49 percent) of students surveyed said their homes were sometimes or always damp, compared to 22 percent of the general population, and two-thirds could see their breath when they were inside. Almost four out of five students reported shivering inside their home.
The results were worse for Māori students and those with disabilities or long-term health concerns who were even more likely to have visible mould in their homes.
Wellington student Jaime Shorter said mould at home had caused her asthma to flare up.
"The mould on the curtains actually made me quite wheezy at night. I actually struggled to sleep for the first couple of weeks until I got used to it and started taking Antihistamines before bed," she said.
Student Duncan Macintyre said a Manners Street flat he moved into last year looked fine at the start of the year before mould started growing in June.
"All the corners of the rooms were just extremely mouldy. We had black mould in a couple of the bedrooms and then the toilets were the same. One of my mates got quite sick from it," he said.
Macintyre said he and his flatmates were often worried about their health but there was little they could do.
"It was almost scary because we knew it was there, we had talked to the landlord about getting it removed but there was no way of actually getting rid of it," he said.
Kaito Ibaraki said a mouldy flat, with most on his bedroom ceiling, impacted his mental health.
"It's pretty depressing. I feel like your house looking like that and it kind of being out of your hands can have a mental impact," Ibaraki said.
Victoria University of Wellington Students' Association estimates the vast majority of students live in houses with some mould.
The Property Investor's Federation said a lot of landlords were doing their bit.
"Landlords are doing as much as they can and trying to bring their houses up to the Healthy Homes Standards. It will make a difference but I don't know if it will be a huge difference. Really the main way of heating a house is turning on the power," executive officer Sharon Cullwick said.
Energy Minister Megan Woods said the government was waiting to hear back from an expert panel on Energy Hardship which would be reporting back in the coming months.
Energy poverty
Dr Kimberley O'Sullivan from Otago University's He Kāinga Oranga Housing and Health Research Programme said energy poverty is significantly impacting students' mental and physical health.
She said students talked of making compromises on food and other necessities, and that living in energy hardship hampered their health.
"Some became physically ill from living in damp, cold and mouldy houses. One student was admitted to hospital with a chest infection, and another said their child had been hospitalised with pneumonia," O'Sullivan said.
Students reported their mental health was also suffering. A third talked of experiencing hypervigilance and depression while one said they had taken medication to manage the anxiety they felt from being cold.
Affordability Issues
The survey found almost three quarters of the students surveyed cut back on heating to save money.
One in eight Māori students (12.5 percent), and one in 25 students overall (4.3 percent) had their electricity disconnected or ran out of prepaid electricity credit because their household could not afford to pay the energy bill - more than six times the national rate of disconnection for non-payment.
Despite that, Dr O'Sullivan found many students were unaware of the support available through StudyLink, which offers grants of up to $200 to students to help with outstanding power bills or to reconnect their energy supply.
Only seven percent had asked StudyLink for help with their electricity or gas bills. Instead, students reported using course-related costs to help pay for their electricity bills with one saying that had increased their student loan debt by $1000.
Dr O'Sullivan said while new healthy homes standards introduced to improve the energy efficiency of private rentals would help, it's clear more targeted support is needed.
RNZ
