The Benefits of a Healthy Home Assessment for Renters (2023)

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As a renter, you might think that your living conditions are solely the responsibility of your landlord. Living in a rental property doesn't mean you can't have a comfortable and healthy home.
We can attend your rental property and provide you with our Rental WOF - a new product that gives renters peace of mind, education, and some neat items to purchase to live healthier (and save money on utilities!).

We can do a deeper assessment following the Homefit guidelines - but your landlord will need to request this.

While some improvements may require your landlord's permission, there are several things you can do yourself to enhance your living conditions.
However, it's important to note that your health and safety should be a top priority too - and one way to ensure that your home is a healthy living space is by getting a healthy home assessment.

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Let's explore the benefits of getting a healthy home assessment as a renter.

  1. Identify Potential Health Hazards
    A healthy home assessment can identify potential health hazards that could be harmful to you and your family's health. For instance, the assessment can identify whether your home has mould, all of which can cause severe health issues if not dealt with properly. Identifying these hazards early can prevent long-term health problems and ensure a safe living environment.
  2. Improve Indoor Air Quality
    Indoor air quality is essential for a healthy home. Unfortunately, poor ventilation, dampness, and poor insulation can cause indoor air pollution. This can trigger respiratory problems and allergies, especially for those with pre-existing conditions. A healthy home assessment can identify these issues and recommend ways to improve indoor air quality, such as increasing ventilation and removing sources of pollution.
  3. Save on Energy Costs
    A healthy home assessment can also identify ways to save on energy costs. For example, the assessment can detect areas of your home that may need more insulation or draft sealing, leading to energy efficiency and cost savings.
  4. Enjoy a Comfortable Living Space
    A healthy home assessment can help you enjoy a comfortable living space. The assessment can identify issues with temperature, humidity, and ventilation that can affect your comfort level. By addressing these issues, you can create a comfortable and pleasant living space.
  5. Peace of Mind
    Getting a healthy home assessment can provide peace of mind, knowing that your home is safe and healthy. As a renter, it's crucial to ensure that your living environment is not only comfortable but also healthy and safe. A healthy home assessment can give you the assurance you need that your home is a healthy living space.
  6. Increase ventilation
    Poor ventilation can lead to a build-up of moisture and harmful pollutants, such as mold and carbon monoxide. Renters can keep their home well-ventilated by opening windows, using extractor fans, and installing air vents.
  7. Keep it clean
    Regular cleaning can help to remove allergens and pollutants from the home. Renters should vacuum carpets, wash bedding, and wipe down surfaces on a regular basis.
  8. Use natural products
    Many cleaning and personal care products contain harmful chemicals that can contribute to indoor air pollution. Renters can use natural, non-toxic alternatives to reduce their exposure to these toxins.
  9. Control pests
    Pests, such as mice, rats, and cockroaches, can carry harmful bacteria and trigger allergies and asthma. Renters can control pests by keeping their home clean, sealing cracks and crevices, and using pest traps and baits.
  10. Seek professional help
    If renters are concerned about the health of their home, they can seek professional help. Sustain and Enable, for example, can provide healthy home assessments and advice on how to make homes safer and more comfortable for residents.

In conclusion, as a renter, getting a healthy home assessment can have a significant impact on your health, comfort, and peace of mind. It can identify potential health hazards, improve indoor air quality, save on energy costs, provide a comfortable living space, and give you peace of mind knowing that your home is safe and healthy. Don't hesitate to reach out to Sustain and Enable to schedule a healthy home assessment for your rental property.

Here are some tips to help you make the most of your rental:

  1. Keep the property clean and tidy, as a clean environment is essential for good health.
  2. Regularly vacuum and clean floors, carpets, and furniture to remove dust, dirt, and other particles.
  3. Open windows to improve air circulation and ventilation, which can help reduce moisture levels and prevent mold growth.
  4. Use a dehumidifier or air conditioning unit to regulate humidity levels and keep the air fresh and dry.
  5. Fix any leaks or water damage immediately to prevent the growth of mold and mildew.
  6. Avoid smoking or burning candles, as this can lead to poor air quality and leave residue on surfaces.
  7. Keep the kitchen clean and free of food waste to prevent pests and unwanted odors.
  8. Use natural cleaning products instead of harsh chemicals that can be harmful to your health.
  9. Use a quality air filter to remove dust, pollen, and other particles from the air.
  10. Replace air filters regularly to ensure they are working efficiently.
  11. Install carbon monoxide detectors and smoke alarms to ensure your safety.
  12. Don’t overcrowd the space with furniture or clutter, as this can lead to poor air circulation and increase the risk of accidents.
  13. Use curtains or blinds to regulate the amount of natural light entering the property.
  14. Use energy-efficient light bulbs to reduce energy consumption and save money on your electricity bill.
  15. Don’t block heating or cooling vents, as this can lead to poor airflow and affect the temperature and humidity levels.
  16. Don’t store flammable materials inside the property.
  17. Keep appliances and electrical equipment clean and well-maintained to prevent fires or electrical hazards.
  18. Use natural methods to control pests and avoid using pesticides that can be harmful to your health.
  19. Report any maintenance issues or repairs needed to the landlord or property manager promptly.
  20. Stay informed about your rights and responsibilities as a renter, and don't hesitate to speak up if you feel your living conditions are unsafe or unhealthy.

Remember, while these tips can help improve your living conditions, it's essential to address any significant issues with your landlord.
Don't hesitate to reach out to them if you notice a problem that needs attention.
With a little effort, you can create a comfortable and healthy home for yourself, even in a rental property.

40 tips to save on your power and water bills as a tenant:

  1. Turn off lights and appliances when not in use.
  2. Use LED light bulbs instead of incandescent bulbs.
  3. Take shorter showers - install a low-flow showerhead*
  4. Fix leaky faucets and toilets promptly.
  5. Use a dishwasher instead of washing dishes by hand.
  6. Wash clothes in cold water and hang dry when possible.
  7. Close blinds and curtains during hot summer days to keep the house cool.
  8. Open windows and use fans instead of air conditioning when possible.
  9. Use a programmable thermostat to regulate the temperature.
  10. Keep the refrigerator and freezer at the proper temperature.
  11. Use power strips (multiplugs) to turn off multiple devices at once.
  12. Unplug electronics when not in use to eliminate "phantom loads."
  13. Use natural light instead of artificial light during the day.
  14. Use a clothesline or drying rack instead of a dryer.
  15. Install weatherstripping to seal doors and windows.
  16. Use a draft stopper to keep cold air from coming in under doors.
  17. Keep the oven and stovetop clean to ensure efficient heating.
  18. Don't overfill the fridge or freezer, as this can reduce efficiency.
  19. Clean air filters regularly to improve airflow and air quality.
  20. Plant trees or install shading devices outside windows to block the sun's heat*
  21. Keep windows and doors closed when the air conditioning or heating is on.
  22. Use natural cleaning products to reduce exposure to harmful chemicals.
  23. Use area rugs to add insulation and warmth to cold floors.
  24. Use a dehumidifier in damp areas to prevent mold growth***
  25. Use curtains or blinds to reduce heat gain in summer and heat loss in winter.
  26. Keep indoor plants to improve air quality and reduce stress (just remember: plants increase moisture - so use in a ventilated room)
  27. Use a programmable thermostat to regulate indoor temperature and save energy.
  28. Use a microwave or toaster oven instead of the oven to save energy.
  29. Use a clothesline or drying rack instead of a dryer to save energy.
  30. Avoid smoking indoors to improve air quality and prevent fire hazards.
  31. Store food properly to prevent pests and odors in the home

* Please ask your landlord first for permission before planting trees.
** Only a registered plumber should install a low-flow showerhead.
*** A landlord should be looking after your house. If you have these issues, contact your landlord to remedy, and mention Sustain and Enable as we can provide a home assessment for them :)

How to get your rental property assessed, as a tenant:

  1. Contact your landlord: As a tenant, you will need to contact your landlord to request permission for the healthy home assessment.
  2. Contact Sustain and Enable: Once you have permission from your landlord, contact Sustain and Enable to schedule the assessment.
  3. Provide property details: Sustain and Enable will need the details of the rental property such as the address and the number of bedrooms.
  4. Provide tenant information: Sustain and Enable will also need your contact information including your name, email address, and phone number.
  5. Schedule the assessment: After gathering all necessary information, Sustain and Enable will schedule a time and date for the assessment to take place.
  6. Prepare the property: Before the assessment, the tenant will need to ensure the property is clean and tidy, with clear access to all areas of the home.
  7. Attend the assessment: The tenant must be present during the assessment to answer any questions and provide access to any locked areas of the property.
  8. Receive the assessment report: After the assessment is complete, Sustain and Enable will provide a report detailing the findings and recommendations for improving the home's health and safety.
  9. Discuss report with landlord: The tenant should discuss the report with their landlord to agree on any necessary improvements.
  10. Schedule a follow-up assessment: After any necessary improvements have been made, a follow-up assessment may be scheduled to ensure the property meets the healthy home standards.
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FAQs

Why is a healthy home important? ›

A healthy, safe, affordable, and accessible home supports their basic needs and protects them from illness and injury.

What is the big deal with having a healthy home? ›

The healthy home philosophy has been around for years. It's a concept that connects your well-being to the relative health of the home you live in. With a focus on creating a home environment free from pests, injury hazards, contaminants and allergens, the concept puts your health and personal wellbeing up front.

What is the relationship between housing and health? ›

Substandard housing such as water leaks, poor ventilation, dirty carpets and pest infestation can lead to an increase in mold, mites and other allergens associated with poor health.

What are the benefits of clean and healthy home? ›

7 Benefits of a Clean and Organized Home
  • Promote Physical Health. Making sure your entire home is clean can have a huge impact on your physical health. ...
  • Lower Your Stress. ...
  • Increase Your Productivity. ...
  • Save Time. ...
  • Creating a Welcoming Environment for Guests. ...
  • Get Better Sleep. ...
  • A Sense of Accomplishment.
Oct 1, 2020

What are the 10 benefits of a healthy environment? ›

Benefits of Living in a Healthy Community
  • Better Physical Health. ...
  • Better Mental Health. ...
  • Stronger Community Support. ...
  • Cleaner Environment. ...
  • More Holistic Educational Opportunities.
Sep 9, 2020

What is the meaning of a healthy home? ›

According to the National Center for Healthy Housing, a healthy home is housing that is designed, constructed, maintained, and rehabilitated in a manner that is conducive to good occupant health. Healthy housing is important for everyone, whether you own or rent your home.

Why is it important to have a safe home environment? ›

Having a place where they are physically, socially, and emotionally secure is imperative for healthy development and a successful future. Children who feel a connection with their caretakers and their home go on to exhibit fewer at-risk behaviors later in childhood.

Why is a clean home a happy home? ›

Keeping a clean home helps to create a positive mindset for everyone in the house, and it also ensures you are healthier than if it were unclean.

How does housing quality affect mental health? ›

Poor living conditions can also prevent children from engaging in playful and social activities, which are beneficial to their cognitive, social, and emotional well-being. Cramped or unsafe environments restrict children from exploring, interacting with, and learning from the world around them.

What are the good living conditions? ›

Secure access to food, clean water, shelter, sanitation, warmth and utilities are basic defining features of secure and comfortable living conditions.

What health benefits might derive from affordable quality and secure housing? ›

But when people have access to quality affordable housing options, they are far less likely to face environmental threats, and far more likely to have enough income for healthy food options and routine medical care—ultimately helping them lower the risk of severe chronic health problems.

What are the 5 benefits of cleanliness? ›

The main advantages of cleanliness are:
  • Cleanliness promotes mental clarity.
  • Regular handwashing can prevent the spread of infections.
  • A clean environment automatically boosts our self-confidence.
  • Cleanliness gives a fresh and good look to our surroundings.

What is 5 benefits of a healthy environment? ›

Clean air and water, sanitation and green spaces, safe workplaces can enhance people's quality of life: reduced mortality and morbidity, healthier lifestyles, improved productivity of workers and their families, improve lives of women, children and elderly and are crucial to mental health.

What are 5 examples of good impact of healthy environment? ›

Some of the benefits include: cleaner air quality, cleaner water, reduced hazardous waste, increased access to healthy foods, safer outdoor environments for adults and children, improved population health, and improved health equity.

What are 4 advantages of healthy environment? ›

The Benefits Of A Healthy Environment
  • Stay away from infections that are spread by a polluted atmosphere.
  • An area is free of air pollution.
  • Water becomes cleaner and more enjoyable to drink.
  • When people are doing their everyday duties, things will be calmer.

What are the characteristics of a healthy house? ›

8 Elements of a Green and Healthy Home
  • 1 – Dry. Prevent water from entering your home through leaks in roofing systems. ...
  • 2 – Clean. Control the source of dust and contaminants. ...
  • 3 – Safe. Store and properly label. ...
  • 4 – Well-Ventilated. ...
  • 5 – Pest Free. ...
  • 6 – Contaminant-Free. ...
  • 7 – Well-Maintained. ...
  • 8 – Energy Efficient.

How do you know if you are healthy at home? ›

Here are some fundamental indicators of good health, along with suggestions on how we can achieve them:
  1. Restful and consistent sleeping patterns. ...
  2. Good energy levels. ...
  3. Healthy bowel movement. ...
  4. Healthy Urinary System. ...
  5. Healthy, dewy skin. ...
  6. Healthy hair. ...
  7. Good oral health and neutral-smelling breath. ...
  8. Regular menstrual cycles.
May 9, 2021

Why is it important to keep your house clean? ›

By keeping your home clean, you can dramatically reduce your family's risk of suffering from allergies, asthma, and other respiratory problems. In addition, you can also help to prevent the spread of bacteria and viruses by regularly cleaning and disinfecting your home.

How does a clean home make you feel? ›

'Many studies have found that having a clean and tidy house can help you to feel relaxed, accomplished, stress free and this could in turn help with any mental health conditions and allow you to feel better and happier.

Why clean house for mental health? ›

According to Dr. Brown, cleaning your space may help reduce your cortisol levels, turn down the volume on the visual noise, and help you focus on the things you need to, and that could potentially improve your mood.

What is a positive effect of housing? ›

housing can reduce stress and related adverse health outcomes. greater self-esteem, increased residential stability and an increased sense of security and control over one's physical environment.

How your home affects your mood? ›

A peaceful and visually appealing home setting can create a greater sense of wellbeing than a cluttered, chaotic home. Even the color of your walls and furnishings can affect your mental health. Studies have found that color can affect a person's mood, behavior, and even cognitive function.

Can living in an apartment affect your mental health? ›

Living in cramped spaces can pose health risks. If your perception of your home is that it's a busy or lonely, negative, dark, and cramped space, you might feel increased stress and anxiety. Living alone in a small space can elicit feelings of confinement or that you are trapped.

What are the 4 standards of living? ›

Standard of living focuses on basic material factors such as income, gross domestic product (GDP), life expectancy, and economic opportunity.

What are poor living conditions? ›

Poor housing quality and inadequate conditions — such as the presence of lead, mold, or asbestos, poor air quality, and overcrowding — can contribute to negative health outcomes, including chronic disease and injury.

What is an example of bad living conditions? ›

Contaminated water. Inadequate lighting. Poor ergonomics. Crowding and space – a potentially very important factor that has bearing on the risks of accidents, fires, dampness and mould, mental well-being and a range of other adverse effects.

Why is housing the most important social determinant of health? ›

Housing is a paradigmatic example of a social determinant of health, as it influences and is influenced by structural determinants, such as social, macroeconomic, and public policies, politics, education, income, and ethnicity/race, all intersecting to shaping the health and well-being of populations.

How does housing insecurity affect health? ›

Overcrowding may affect mental health, stress levels, relationships, and sleep, and it may increase the risk of infectious disease.

How does housing affordability affect health? ›

The findings are based on data from the 2021 California Health Interview Survey. About one-third of adults who faced housing affordability issues delayed needed medical care during that year, the survey found.

What does it mean to have a healthy home? ›

A healthy home is a home that is insulated, dry, clean, safe, ventilated, maintained, pest-free, and energy efficient. A healthy home is important because it allows the occupants to remain safe and healthy in their living environment. Far too often an unhealthy home results in its occupants becoming ill.

Why is it important to live in a clean environment? ›

Cleaning the environment is the key to the existence and survival of life on planet earth. Maintaining a clean environment reduces pollution, preserves our biosphere, protects endangered species, and helps preserve the earth's natural resources.

Why is it important to have a clean environment? ›

Keeping your environment clean—whether at home, work, school or the hospital—is an important way to prevent infection. Dangerous germs can take up residence anywhere. By keeping them to a minimum, you will reduce your chances of developing an infection and improve your health.

Why is healthy living conditions important? ›

Our health is greatly impacted by the environment in which we live, work and play — our homes, neighborhoods, places of work, schools and community facilities. Ensuring a clean, safe, and healthy environment can help to promote physical, social, and emotional health throughout a community.

How do you maintain a good and healthy home? ›

Reduce dust and dirt by vacuuming, dusting and wet-mopping regularly.
  • Protect Visiting Children.
  • Safe handling of medications is an important factor:
  • Managing Chemicals at Home.
  • Reduce the Risk of Mould.
  • Avoid Smoke.
  • Keep Carbon Monoxide Out.
  • Learn About Radon.
Nov 5, 2014

What are the some characteristics of a healthy environment? ›

4.1. 2- Characteristics of a healthy outdoor environment
  • Water quality and adequecy.
  • Air quality and adequacy.
  • Soil quality and adequacy.
  • Levels of biodiversity.
  • Pest and introduced species.

What are 5 benefits of having a clean environment to people? ›

The benefits of maintaining environmental hygiene include:
  • Avoid from diseases caused by unhealthy environment.
  • The environment becomes cooler.
  • Free from air pollution.
  • Water becomes cleaner and safer to drink.
  • More calm in running daily activities.
Jul 22, 2018

What are 3 benefits in living in a clean environment? ›

Clean air and water, sanitation and green spaces, safe workplaces can enhance people's quality of life: reduced mortality and morbidity, healthier lifestyles, improved productivity of workers and their families, improve lives of women, children and elderly and are crucial to mental health.

What are three reasons why it is important to clean and protect the environment? ›

Healthy ecosystems clean our water, purify our air, maintain our soil, regulate the climate, recycle nutrients and provide us with food.

What is the value of cleanliness? ›

It improves not only your physical health but also mental health and makes you far more productive. Cleanliness is the most important habit one can possess, as cleanliness and health are interrelated. If you are clean, you can fight off and prevent many diseases, especially communicable diseases.

What are the reasons for cleaning the home? ›

7 Reasons Why Clean Matters
  • Overall Health And Safety: Cleaning Is Essential! ...
  • Prevent The Spread Of Germs And Viral Outbreaks: ...
  • Increased Focus Productivity: ...
  • Emotional Wellbeing And Mental Clarity: ...
  • For Your Kiddos: ...
  • The Economic Impact: ...
  • Social Consciousness.
Jun 1, 2020

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