Overcrowding

Overcrowded housing is significantly more susceptible to condensation. With more occupants in a home, the building has more moisture to contend with.

Overcrowding in the private and social rented sector continues to increase from already high levels. In London, a third of the children living in social housing – and a fifth in private rented housing – are affected by it. In the social sector, a housing shortage that disproportionately effects larger properties means that often, as families increase in sizes, there simply isn’t the stock available to accommodate this, leading to many living in overcrowded dwellings for extended periods of time. This shortage of larger properties has in part been driven by the fact such properties are more likely to have been bought as part of Right to Buy.

As condensation in particular is often framed by Councils and housing providers as the fault of tenants, and something that they should mitigate with lifestyle changes (for instance, showering less), the impact overcrowding has reveals how often this is not only out of the control of tenants, but also that fault lies instead local and national governments. For overcrowded households, this suggestion of reducing the amount of moisture emitted into the air then morphs into the : breathe less.