Every day, community members share their heat stories with us, and generously allow us to share them with you. Hearing these stories empowers others to join us to work towards safer, cooler communities for all.
We spoke to Lisa who has been living in a new public housing build this past summer on the NSW South Coast. We asked how she has coped with the summer heat and it hasn’t been easy for her, especially after the move to this new unit. She thought it would be an improvement, but it’s turned out to be even hotter than the old place.
Lisa was really looking forward to moving to this new apartment when it was offered to her, as her previous unit was very hot and in an older building so she thought this new one would be built to new standards and be cooler to live in. Unfortunately, this hasn’t been the case. Lisa was also told that her new home would have air conditioning, which would have made a huge difference to her health conditions and although it does have the wiring ready for connection in each apartment, she has now been informed that none of the units in this building will have air conditioning installed.
The entire building is made of concrete, but it has no eaves to shield the building from the sun. It’s like a sauna, especially with the sun blasting in all day. There are only three windows in the whole apartment, and no bathroom window at all. Even though it’s a brand-new building, it seems like very little thought was put into the design to keep it cool for the residents.
The windows and sliding doors have roller blinds which should block out some of the heat, but they’re not much help. When Lisa opens the sliding doors for some air, the blinds bang against the metal frames and break. If she pulls them up to avoid that, the sun coming into her living space is magnified by the glass, making things even worse, so she mostly keeps the doors shut and is closed in with no ventilation at all. Lisa lives with a disability, chronic illness and other health issues like asthma that are impacted by the heat. The heat in her unit makes it hard for her to sleep, and when she can’t sleep, she ends up exhausted. When this happens it affects her medical appointments too, as she is concerned about being alert enough to drive safely so she sometimes has to cancel or reschedule.
Lisa has a disability parking permit, but there’s only one disabled parking spot for the whole building, and it’s almost always taken and there are not enough parking spaces for the number of units in the block. Lisa is usually left with no choice but to park on the street which is on a steep hill. This often leads to her staying home rather than making the long and difficult walk to and from her car in the hot weather.
To make matters worse, Lisa has to constantly run fans to try to keep cool, 3 in the living room and 2 in the bedroom, but they don’t do much as they are just pushing hot air around. The heat makes her feel even more drained, and it’s a constant battle just to get through each day.
It’s been a struggle trying to keep up with everything in this overheated space and she has requested a move to another area hoping it will be cooler and make life a bit easier for her.
