Hot water homes: more than half of French people were “too hot” at home in 2023, according to a report

Last year, 55% of French people said they had suffered from the heat in their homes for at least 24 hours, a quarter suffered from it “frequently” during the summer, while the number of people living in “too hot” homes has increased by 26% since 2013, according to a report. Midi Libre – ALEXANDRE DIMOU

Energy poverty is not limited to winter: in 2023, more than half of French people were too hot in their homes, the Abbé Pierre Foundation (FAP) revealed on Wednesday, calling for urgent adaptation of housing to heat waves.

Last year, 55% of French people said they had suffered from the heat in their homes for at least 24 hours, a quarter suffered from it “frequently" during the summer, while the number of people living in homes that were "too hot&quot has increased by 26% since 2013, the Foundation reveals in a report that compiles official data.

5,000 heat-related deaths in 2023

Faced with more intense, frequent and long heat waves, "more and more people are experiencing the inadequacy or even uninhabitability of their homes for several months per year", the authors emphasize. With sometimes fatal consequences, the number of deaths linked to the heat in the summer of 2023 is thus estimated at 5,000, 75% of which are among those aged 75 and over.

The causes include poorly insulated walls and poorly ventilated housing, but also the absence of outdoor spaces or shutters.

“Beyond the euphemism of “summer comfort”, it is the habitability of housing and its ability to protect its occupants (…) that urgently need to be taken into account account”,warns Christophe Robert, general delegate of the FAP.

Despite some developments, adapting housing to heat “is still not at the heart of renovation policies”, the report continues.

In fact, the fight against energy insecurity mainly focuses on reducing energy consumption, decarbonizing heating and maintaining a minimum temperature in housing.

Regulatory or heritage barriers also sometimes prevent the installation of solar protection or the application of light colors on the facade and roofing.

93 % of the exposed park

The situation is all the more critical as it risks getting worse. “One in seven French people live in an area that will be exposed to more than twenty abnormally hot days each summer by 2050”, warns the report.

Worse, with a view to warming of 4°C, 93% of the built stock will be exposed “to a high or very high risk linked to heat waves”.

According to an Ipsos-RTE survey published in May 2023, 37% of respondents suffer “from both the heat and the cold", in housing that is impossible to heat in winter and turns into kettles in summer.

Flats are also "three times more often too hot than individual houses".

More mineral, denser and often lacking in vegetation, the morphology of cities “intensifies the feeling and consequences of heat waves, by contributing to the phenomenon of urban heat islands (UHIs)”.

These UHIs linked to concrete that stores heat during the day and re-radiates it at night, but also to car traffic, generated a temperature difference of 10°C between city and countryside during the great heat wave of 2003.

Young people on the front line

According to a study published in May in Lancet Planet Health, Paris is the European capital where the risk of mortality from heat waves is the highest due to its density and the lack of green spaces.

Those under 25, who are more likely to live in small, poorly insulated homes, are 71% affected by the heat in summer, as are 70% of tenants, according to the Ipsos/RTE survey.

Single mothers, the elderly, who are physiologically more vulnerable, and low-income households are also more affected.

No maximum temperature indicated for rental

Despite this worrying observation, no specific public aid is planned to adapt housing to heatwaves outside of major renovations, note the authors.

"It would have been useful to also subsidize simple actions for millions of households exposed to summer energy poverty, without necessarily requiring them to undertake major works when they sometimes urgently need to install shutters", they emphasize.

Furthermore, if a landlord is required to rent out his or her home "with a minimum regulatory temperature of 19 degrees on average (…) no maximum temperature is indicated for the location".

Among the recommendations, the Foundation proposes "to systematically integrate heat wave adaptation work into state-subsidized energy renovations" or to establish a "great heat" plan to protect homeless people, who are also particularly vulnerable.