Housing quality

Hi, I'll look into this next week, as these are some big questions. Have a good weekend!!

Hi all, Statistics NZ are looking at other data sources and what can be integrated across the Official Statistics System. This data futures forum paper might be useful if you’re interested.

For now, we have recorded your information needs around the valuation roll, noting that your submission would be considered more carefully.

What about information on dwellings that lack basic amenities? As @rosemaryg has said: " Electricity, gas, and water supply information could be utilised, direct question asked of residents, or proxies could be developed". So would this be useful?

Last year the General Social Survey (GSS) team at Statistics NZ undertook consultation on a topic for the 2016 GSS supplement. One of the topic options we asked about was housing and the physical environment including housing quality as an aspect of this.
In relation to housing quality the main topics of interest identified by submitters were:
Presence and type of different;
materials eg: moisture barriers, insulation (including year put in and who paid for it - ie: landlord, tenant, subsidised scheme, other)
amenities eg: ventilation, water and space heating facilities, healthy home technologies, energy and water efficiency
issues eg: level of dampness, mould and cold, leaks, broken, damaged or missing amenities
Whether the house has a WOF, has been assessed under Homestar or another rating system and the result
Overall satisfaction with and perceptions of housing quality eg: how healthy the house is to live in
Housing quality/adequacy and relationship to health and wellbeing including whether people over the past year have suffered from or were hospitalised for asthma, bronchitis, pneumonia, rheumatic fever, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Year the house was built, condition of the house when residents moved in versus now
Safety and security in and around the home including presence of working smoke alarms, secure lockable storage for hazardous household items eg: medicines and cleaners
Although civic and cultural participation has now been identified as the GSS supplement topic for 2016, housing and physical environment is being actively considered as the 2018 GSS supplement topic.
Rosemary's report (referenced above) on Measuring Housing Quality recommends that we need to consider and reach agreement on a definition of housing quality to be used in NZ, and the purpose of data collection (ie: what should information on housing quality specifically be used for?) before an action plan can be established as to how it is most effective to achieve this. Given the interest in the public arena on this topic it would be extremely useful to have agencies and individuals' thoughts on this.

We have two main areas of interest that intersect with housing quality/well-being:
1. Air pollution - type of fuel used to heat homes during winter is of most interest to us, measures could be number of residents admitted to hospital for respiratory issues
2. Fuel poverty - temperature of house in winter is of interest
Some of the measures could be health related.

Thanks @anettebecher, It is helpful to have your top priority needs. As there is a lot of demand for new information, aligning information needs where possible will be of benefit to everyone.

Hi team, good to see the interest in improving housing quality coverage. Given the title of the Census is population and dwellings I am amazed that the content to date is as light as it is in this respect, especially given the large social and macro-economic costs associated with housing quality. After reflecting on the report linked above on housing quality I think the main census is the most valuable tool for providing a baseline of reliable core data for what apparently is the most valuable national asset and investment vehicle, yet also the source of so many costs. Other tools could be used to expand on the breadth and depth of understanding, but only a broad reach survey like the census will give a reliable picture of key issues.

I think the key focus areas should initially be on anything with a direct health and wellbeing link: insulation (ceiling/wall/floor), ventilation (type of system), presence of damp/condensation/leaks, glazing standard, water heating type, connections to mains supplies / drainage. While it might be a big ask to put all this on the current form with space limitations I'm not convinced that a partial approach will achieve much, as many of these factors are interrelated in determining the health attributes of a home.

Hi @timrobinson1, thanks for joining this discussion and making a great case for why this information is important to have.

I guess the title of census focusses on the critical need to ensure the count of people and dwellings is as accurate as possible, and then considering what information can be collected well from everyone, but also reflects that census content remained unchanged for a long time. But it's a great opportunity for us now!

Do you think the key focus areas you've mentioned would need a separate question for each with a pick-list of answers, or do you think some overall qualitative information would be useful, for example, "In winter, is your house or flat colder than you would like?" (from Stats NZ's General Social Survey ) This sort of question reflects a few areas plus an opinion of personal need.

Hi all, I would like to open up some discussion on homelessness and what information need there is. If you have any thoughts on collecting information on people who are homeless (as distinct from those with an inadequate dwelling) please follow this link and share.

Note the date for this Loomio consultation to finish and the due date for submissions is next Tues 30th June. It would be great to get some of the unanswered questions (posted at the top of each discussion thread) enlightened.

Please share!

It would be great to know how many people have had health issues due to poor housing

So then we'd need an measure of health as well - I have suggested elsewhere that we have an overall measure of self-rated health included in the census.
That's not been taken up much in discussion yet - it is included at present under Cigarette smoking and under Disability.
Such a question could add hugely to the value of the census.
Care to add to this discussion?

Hi @sarahmiller, thanks for joining this discussion. Can you give a little more detail please. Are you interested in a picture of housing deprivation such as presence/absence of basic amenities (eg electricity), a self-rated health indicator, or physical housing aspects eg insulation, ventilation, heating etc?

Hi all

Note that next Tues 30 June is when this Loomio consultation finishes and submissions are due.

Have a lovely weekend!
Tina