Health costs of leaky homes $26m

The physical and mental health costs associated with living in leaky buildings is conservatively estimated to be $26 million, according to a new book.

The first book on the broad effects of the leaky buildings saga in New Zealand, ''Do Damp and Mould Matter? Health Impacts of Leaky Homes'' examines the reasons for the failure of the building industry in the 1990s and the long-term health costs of living in damp and mouldy homes.

It is edited by Professor Howden-Chapman, Dr Julie Bennett and Dr Rob Siebers from the Public Health Department at the University of Otago, based in Wellington. 

A more permissive Building Act in 1991, the downgrading of the apprenticeship system, the increased use of poorly supervised ''labour-only'' gangs in conjunction with monolithic cladding techniques, and new building designs unsuited to New Zealand's wet weather, all contributed to the leaky homes debacle, they said. 

The estimated $26m in health costs was just part of the picture. 

An unpublished estimate by the Auckland City Council was that 80,000 houses built with monolithic cladding in the 1990s have leaked or will eventually leak, and current estimates put eventual fix-it costs at $11.5 billion, Prof Howden-Chapman said.

The editors said the housing problem in New Zealand was much wider than just so-called ''leaky buildings''. 

Much of the country's housing stock was in a poor state, and was having an impact on health and pushing up health care costs. 

''For instance, about one third of New Zealand homes have mould in one or more rooms, particularly in deprived neighbourhoods,'' Prof Howden-Chapman said.

There was an established link between living in mouldy houses and increased asthma severity.

She said it was good to see that the Government was reviewing the Building Act, but it was crucial that the health impacts and sustainability of buildings were considered alongside efficiency and risk.''

''This book underlines the importance of high quality research to ensure the massive regulatory failure which the leaky building fiasco represents, will not be repeated, said former State Services Commissioner Don Hunn, who wrote the 2002 report of the Overview Group on Weathertightness of Buildings.

- NZPA