Housing and the environment
How does adequate housing impact the environment?
Home; this singular word can evoke an array of emotions. For some, the word home can be associated with safety and a sense of belonging. For others, however, home can bring up devastating health conditions and a gross environmental impact.
According to the World Health Organization, the main health risks due to inadequate housing include, “respiratory and cardiovascular diseases from indoor air pollution; illness and deaths from temperature extremes; communicable diseases spread because of poor living conditions, and risks of home injuries”. On families already living in slums and urban areas, an additional health condition results in even more shame and devastation.
In addition to poor housing leading to health risks, these homes also leave a huge environmental footprint. Poorly built, low cost housing is one of the worst offenders in respect to environmental impact. This is due to the energy inefficiency ranging from 20-30% caused by the badly insulated and ventilated houses. Sadly, 50.6% of the world’s populationlive in these urban areas results in the environmental damage to be unimaginable.
These statistics, though devastating, are mobilizing people to make a change for not only the environment but for the families being affected by their home’s inabilities. Since 2010, more than 227 million people have moved out of slum conditions. At first, this may seem like the families were moved to a less urban environment. However, these 227 million people are seeming to not have moved but have simply been upgraded where they’re at.
1Mission, for instance, partners with locals in Mexico, El Salvador and Nicaragua to encourage the locals to attain better living conditions. The locals serve hundreds of hours in their community through a variety of outlets such as school programs, educational seminars, Bible studies, community development lessons, etc. Through this nonprofit, families are achieving shelter that can protect them from overwhelming heat, from natural disasters such as landslides and from causing outlandish damage to the environment. By giving the materially impoverished an outlet to achieve a safe home, the environment will be all the better for it.
