New inequality putting renters in peril

By Jack Nivison

“Heat inequality” is a term which describes the link between a person’s lack of privilege and their likelihood to be negatively impacted by high temperatures.

According to experts, there is still a major reluctance from governments to treat the issue seriously.

It’s a reluctance which is significantly impacting marginalised communities, many of whom reside in “heat islands” – areas which are prone to significantly higher temperatures due to a lack of green space and high concentrations of materials like concrete and black tar roads.

Belgian urban design company Cobra Groeninzicht has established a methodology to assess the sustainability of suburbs which it calls the “3+30+300” rule.

Individual properties are rated from “very bad” to “excellent” based on three distinct criteria:

Are three trees visible from the building?Is there 30 per cent tree canopy coverage around each building?Is the property within 300 meters of the nearest park or green space?

Emma Bacon is the founder and executive director of Sweltering Cities, a non-profit which advocates for awareness of – and government action against – the development of extreme heat conditions and the proliferation of heat islands.

“People need to have safe housing to be safe in climate disasters and heat is a really clear example of that,” Ms Bacon said.

“Right now we’re hearing about people who are pleading and saying ‘my house is dangerously hot, something must be done,’ and there’s nothing to support them.”

Ms Bacon said renters in Sydney’s west were some of the worst affected, and the majority of concern came down to provision of basic needs.

“All (renters) really want is clear and practical support. A lot of people just want to be able to do the common sense energy efficiency upgrades that they know are going to be the most affordable ways to keep cool,” she said.

“That’s insulation, better blinds, screen doors so you can open up the house in the evening and feel safe while also letting the cooler air come through. It’s these sorts of changes renters want.”

In the original Summer Survey in 2022, when renters were asked if they had requested any household changes to ease their heat-related discomfort, 328 renters said they submitted requests, but only 48 of those requests were carried out.

The most recent survey included testimony from anonymous renters, some of whom couldn’t even keep household appliances running.

“We can’t afford to keep our home cool. We need to turn our fridge off overnight to cut costs,” said one renter.

“Food costs so much, salad and cooler foods to eat are very expensive and out of our reach.”

One western Sydney resident who had recently moved from the north said the lack of trees was baffling.

“We need a lot more tree canopy in Canterbury-Bankstown, and more parks,” the respondent said.

“I recently moved here from the lower North Shore of Sydney and I am shocked by how much hotter it is and how fewer trees there are on the streets.”

UNSW Senior Lecturer of Built Environment Dr Anir Upadhyay says people have “short memories” when it comes to the urgency of addressing heat inequality.

“Every winter, we feel very cold, and every summer we feel very hot … but the reality is we are experiencing more and more hot days and heatwaves are increasing,” Dr Upadhyay said.

“Sydney is really stretched out. Inland, the characteristics are very different than the coastal areas, which we sometimes tend to forget. We have two distinct climates, and people don’t realise the house which is on the coast and the house which is on the western end of the city need to respond to their own climate.”

In 2022, Dr Upadhyay helped co-author the “Future Proofing Residential Development in Western Sydney” report, which revealed homes were being built for a “historical climate” which “does not represent today’s conditions, or those we will experience in the future”.

While he is pleased the conversation around sustainable housing has advanced since then, he believes meaningful legislative and regulatory change “hasn’t really materialised”.

“There’s a lot of challenges in the policy domain because a lot of things need to be sorted, but at the same time we are heading in the right direction,” Dr Upadhyay said.

“As you go up north, the temperature is much warmer, and we’re trying to understand how they are designing in places like Brisbane because it’s very likely that Sydney’s climate will be quite similar in a few years time,” he said.

“It’s not difficult for designers to go through with this, but at the moment you can’t really put it into design because of these policy restrictions.”

A spokesperson from the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure said the NSW Housing Pattern Book – the government-approved blueprint for new-build homes – took “climate-resilient housing” into consideration.

“All the designs accommodate trees and planting in outdoor spaces. They also provide a Landscape Guide with examples of landscape plans, tree planting and green cover guidance,” the spokesperson said.

“We’re also expanding Sydney’s canopy cover through the Greening Our City Program, which has awarded $35 million in grants to Greater Sydney councils for 131 urban greening projects during its first three funding rounds to date.”

This summer, Sweltering Cities will begin researching its third biannual Summer Survey and will be placing a strong focus on the effects that urban heating can have on people’s sleep patterns.

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