July 24, 2018
Sensors show truth on damp whare
A charity which makes home health sensors is crowd funding to grow – but it says the government should fund kits for vulnerable families.
Whare Hauora started when technologist Brenda Wallace wanted to measure temperature and moisture levels in her house to see if they were contributing to her daughter's chronic asthma.
Baulking at the high cost of sensors, she built her own from parts at a tenth of the price.
Chief executive Hiria Te Rangi says the charity has now been funded by Ka Hao: Māori Digital Technology Development Fund to scale up its initial sensor and app designs, hire a full-time staff member and trial its system in 30 homes across three community housing areas.
She says New Zealand has a nationwide epidemic of cold, damp homes that are making people sick.
"Landlords often say 'you need to open your windows.' Truthfully with that kind of humidity and that moisture level it is not enough so our role in creating the sensors and rolling them out to the community at no cost to them is so they can produce the evidence to state it is the house, not the behaviour of the renter," Ms Te Rangi says.
Whare Hauora's PledgeMe campaign gives potential supporters a range of options from a straight out gift to a buy one, give one option.
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