Párate un momento a pensar: ¿Cuánto tiempo calculas que pasas al día en espacios interiores? ¿Y cuánto de ese corresponde a tu hogar o vivienda? Seguramente tus cálculos hayan dado como resultado más de la mitad del día, porque esto es lo habitual. Así lo refleja un estudio de la Asociación para la Investigación de Medios de Comunicación (AIMC), el cual señala que los españoles pasamos en casa una media de 15 horas diarias entre semana y de algo más de 16 durante los fines de semana.

That’s a long time—it actually accounts for about two-thirds of our lives. So it’s understandable that an organization as important as the World Health Organization (WHO) pays attention to housing conditions and has even established a set of guidelines to prevent substandard conditions that could jeopardize the health of homeowners or tenants.

So, here at CULMIA, we want to take a closer look at them and discuss them at length.

Why Are Guidelines on Housing and Health Necessary?

The WHO itself makes this clear by stating that improving living conditions can:

• save lives,
• improve quality of life,
• reduce poverty,
• help mitigate climate change
• and contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including those related to health (SDG 3) and sustainable cities (SDG 11).

This is particularly important in today’s demographic, environmental, and social context. On the one hand, the global urban population is projected to double by 2050, which in turn will also mean that the population aged 60 and older will double in just three decades. On the other hand, the threat of climate change poses challenges in ensuring that homes provide protection“against cold, heat, and other extreme weather events,”with the aim of“promoting community resilience.”

What are the health risks associated with the WHO guidelines on Housing and Health?

The WHO highlights a number of environmental factors that can compromise the health of people living in homes. These factors are closely linked to the surrounding environment and the quality of the buildings themselves:

• Structural deficiencies that increase the likelihood of people slipping or falling and sustaining injuries.
• Access difficulties for people with disabilities or the elderly, which can lead to injuries, stress, and isolation.
• Housing insecurity, whether due to financial reasons or frequent moves, can cause people to experience stress.
• Difficulty or high cost of heating the home, an issue that can affect respiratory or cardiovascular health.
• High indoor temperatures in the home, with a potential risk of causing illness and increasing mortality from cardiovascular causes.
• Indoor indoor air, which has the potential to cause numerous noncommunicable diseases, as well as harm respiratory and cardiovascular health and trigger allergic reactions.
• Overcrowding, with the resulting increased risk of exposure to infectious diseases.
• Inadequate water supply and sanitation services, which affect food safety and personal hygiene and, as a result, also contribute to the spread of disease.

Purpose of the WHO Guidelines on Housing and Health

These guidelines bring together a series of practical recommendations to prevent the onset of diseases that are directly related to poor or unsafe housing conditions. In developing them, the WHO has drawn on“a wide range of recently commissioned or published systematic reviews of the scientific literature,”meaning that these guidelines apply rigorous criteria designed to assess the quality and suitability of the available evidence, as well as to formulate a series of recommendations aimed at reducing the aforementioned risk factors and highlighting the importance of potential interventions.

Consequently, the guidelines are intended to be useful for the development of policies and laws (at the national, regional, and local levels) regarding the effects of housing on health. Therefore, they are primarily intended for regulatory agencies responsible for establishing housing policies and regulations, as well as for their implementation.

But they should not stop there, because the WHO guidelines on housing and health were also developed with the firm intention of helping the various sectors involved in the construction, development, and maintenance of housing to collaborate and promote healthy housing features. Consequently, they are also important for the activities of government agencies, architects, builders, real estate developers, engineers, and other stakeholders.

Furthermore, the WHO notes that both the implementation and the priorities of the guidelines on housing and health must be adapted to each local context. This calls on agencies and authorities to do so at the appropriate level—national, regional, or local. Hence, they must also be accompanied by “political will and coordination among the different levels of government”, such as governments, their departments, the health sectors (private, nongovernmental, and community-based), and international development and funding organizations.

Recommendations from the WHO’s Key Guidelines on Housing and Health

On Overcrowding (Strong Recommendation)

It is advisable to develop and implement strategies aimed at preventing and reducing overcrowding in homes.

Heating and Insulation for Interiors (Strong Recommendation)

In order to protect residents from the harmful effects of the cold, it is important that indoor temperatures be high enough. To this end, in countries with temperate or colder climates, an indoor temperature of 18°C is considered safe and provides adequate protection for people during the colder seasons.

In addition, in climate zones with a cold season, it is recommended to install effective and safe thermal insulation in new homes, as well as to retrofit existing buildings for this purpose.

Indoor heating (conditional recommendation)

This measure aims to protect the population from excessive heat when they are indoors and live in areas exposed to high ambient temperatures. The goal is to develop and implement strategies to help achieve this.

Home Safety and Injuries (Conditional Recommendation)

To prevent the accidents or unintentional injuries we discussed earlier, specific measures must be taken, and homes must be equipped with safety devices. Examples include smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, stair gates, and window guards.

Accessibility (strong recommendation)

This WHO guideline on housing and health recommends that an adequate proportion of the housing stock be accessible to people with functional impairments. To calculate this proportion, factors such as aging trends, the current national prevalence, and projections of functional impairments must be taken into account.

Other WHO Guidelines on Key Housing Risk Factors

In addition to the recommendations we have just outlined, the WHO also sets forth a series of guidelines for specific key risk factors. These are aimed at ensuring the quality of drinking water and indoor air (preventing the growth of mold and dampness), protecting people from exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke, to control noise levels, and to limit or eliminate the use of toxic materials such as asbestos, lead, and radon.

It also points out that there are other risk factors related to housing (such as lighting, ceiling and building heights, electrical safety, the housing environment, and fuel shortages) that are not directly addressed by the guidelines but that can have an impact on people’s health.

Benefits of the WHO Guidelines on Housing and Health

In short, implementing these key guidelines can have indirect health benefits, as it helps eliminate housing-related health risks. Not to mention other social and environmental benefits, such as reduced energy consumption and pollutant emissions, improved educational outcomes (thanks to greater comfort for students) , and even the stimulation of employment and investment.

Not to mention the impact these recommendations have on the creation of new “green” regulations for construction practices. Primarily because they provide excellent guidance on addressing aspects such as the design, location, and siting of homes, as well as promoting water conservation and energy efficiency, in addition to encouraging the use of environmentally friendly building materials and fostering healthy living conditions.

What do you think of these key WHO guidelines on housing and health? Do you think it’s important to take them into account in the real estate sector?Feel free to share this article on your social media and leave a comment with your thoughts!

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