A Canadian woman living in Melbourne has exposed the huge problem with Australian houses.
Alexandra Tuohey was shocked to discover how cold Australian homes can be after moving into a shared house.
“The hardest part about living in Australia is that people actually tell me, ‘Oh, you’re Canadian, so you shouldn’t be able to feel the cold,'” Tuohey said in a video posted to social media.
“But I can tell you for sure that the coldest I’ve ever been in my life was living in a shared house in Melbourne in mid-July.
‘And lying in my own bed trying to fall asleep, being able to see my own breathing, while I could only keep warm with a small heater and an electric blanket.
“I don’t know why everyone in Australia was saying, ‘Let’s not isolate our houses, let’s all put on a Kathmandu jacket and call it a day.'”
She said: “Australians, especially older ones, are so against heating and clothes dryers, it’s so crazy.”
Alexandra Tuohey (pictured), a Canadian woman living in Melbourne, has gone viral with a video about what she finds most striking about living in Australia.
John Pabon, an American sustainability consultant who also lives in Melbourne, agreed.
“When Australians complain that their houses are cold during the winter, they’re not just complaining, it’s scientifically proven,” he said.
‘The World Health Organization consistently ranks Australian homes as some of the coldest in the world.
‘They have a metric that says that for a house to be considered not cold it has to be more than 18 degrees inside. Well, Australian houses miss the mark completely.
Pabón said a recent report showed 81 per cent of homes across Australia do not meet the WHO minimum standard.
Tasmania ranked lowest with an average indoor temperature of 11 degrees during winter. In Victoria, where he and Tuohey live, more than a quarter of homes failed to reach the 18-degree mark.
“This has huge implications for physical and mental health, it increases the amount of mold that can appear in a house when it’s so cold,” he said.
“Especially for people who rent, who don’t own their own home, it’s a huge problem.”
Many agreed with the Canadian’s comments, with one writing that ‘Australian housing standards are terrible.’
“I spoke to a Canadian who moved into a new house and he said he could still feel the drafts through the house without the windows open.”
Another said: ‘I’m Canadian too and live in Somerset, Tasmania.
‘We recently redid our floors and I was extremely surprised by the fact that there was nothing between the floor and the outside! Nothing!’
More than 80 per cent of homes in Australia do not meet the World Health Organization’s minimum temperature standard in winter.
John Pabón (pictured), an American who also lives in Melbourne, agreed with Ms Tuohey.