Better Renting's "Sweaty and Stressed" Renter Researchers Summer 2023 report, which launched this week, shows that substandard homes and rising energy costs are making summers unbearable for many Australian renters. Indoor temperatures exceeded 25°C for 40% of the time, leading to negative effects on physical and mental health. Cost of living concerns were also high, causing renters to self-ration and endure unliveable temperatures.

Renter Researchers is a citizen science project that puts temperature trackers into the homes of renters across Australia. Over 2022/23 summer, 75 renters tracked the temperatures in their homes, along with their experiences of the heat and how they managed it. Renters in the NT endured indoor conditions that make everyday life almost unbearable and spent virtually all their time above 25°C, and 5 hours a day above 30°C. Due to high humidity (above 70% more than half the time), these temperatures would have felt even hotter and been harder to deal with.

Mandatory minimum energy efficiency standards for rental homes are necessary to ensure safe and healthy housing for all renters and to promote social equity by addressing the disproportionate impact on low-income renters.

Venture is a proud supporter of this report and is committed to making sure our tenants have comfortable and well-maintained homes. The homes we build adhere to our design principles to promote environmental sustainability, improve comfort, design out maintenance, and maximise energy efficiency, which improves the liveability and comfort of tenants' homes, as well as reducing utility costs for our tenants.   

You can read the Renter Researcher report here.