Survey of what people with MCS seek from safer housing development

 

 

Danish researchers asked a hundred people with MCS what features they would like in a special MCS housing development.

 

Keywords:    multiple chemical sensitivity, MCS, housing, apartments, townhouses, survey

 

 

About the picture

The picture above shows a part of the Raintree MCS apartment building in Dallas, Texas. It was a low-cost conversion of an existing apartment building that operated for nearly twenty years.

 

The survey

A non-profit organization in Denmark is trying to get housing built for people with multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS). They have enlisted the help of various building specialists, including some indoor climate scientists at Aalborg University.

 

As part of the planning phase they sent out surveys to the members of the Danish MCS support organization. They received about a hundred responses.

 

They found that 55% of the respondents were 61 years old, or older. This may be because older persons tend to join organizations more than younger people.

 

Half reported that their MCS caused problems for them daily, while the other half said it was less troublesome.

 

Fifteen percent reported also having electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS).

 

About half lived alone, while 40% lived with a partner. Ten percent lived with children (some also with a partner). This is important for designing the size of the housing units.

 

Having MCS can socially isolate people, since regular people are often unwilling to tone down their use of toxic chemicals. Ninety percent of the respondents said they would welcome being able to socialize with their MCS neighbors. When asked how large social activities they would like, 35% responded groups of more than ten people were welcome.

 

They were asked how far away they wanted parking to be from their home. Twenty percent chose a distance of 20 to 30 meters (60 to 100 ft), 30% chose 30 to 80 meters (100 to 250 ft), while 25% chose 80 to more than 100 meters (250 to 300 ft).

 

These choices may reflect Danish culture, which is much more comfortable with walking than people in America. The Rocking R Ranch project in Snowflake, Arizona, offer the residents the option of parking their cars right outside their homes, or in a spot 80 ft (25 meters) away. The away spot is never used.

 

There were no questions about distances needed to other sources of air pollution, but many added that they needed to be far away from agricultural fields that are sprayed with pesticides, homes with wood stoves, and traffic in general.

 

Having a private outdoor area where residents can dry clothes, offgas things and possibly sleep at night was rated important by 75%. Also, 75% rated having a private washing machine as important (to avoid contamination from other people’s use of laundry chemicals).

 

Thirty-five percent said it was very important to have a utility room, which could be used for washing clothes, offgassing materials, storing things, etc.

 

Having an outdoor kitchen was not rated important by many.

 

There were several questions about building materials. Hard-surface materials, such as bricks and ceramic tiles were rated highly, while paint and manufactured wood products were frowned upon. The rating of natural wood products, such as hardwood floors were mixed. Also, the use of gypsum wall boards (plaster boards) received mixed response.

 

Several people stated that concrete that is wet from rain was a problem. This may be because it is standard to add fly ash to concrete in Denmark (fly ash is a waste product from the country’s many coal-fired power plants). It is standard to specify “no additives allowed” in concrete for healthy houses in America, where wetted concrete is not a problem. The Seagoville MCS camp in Texas had just one hut with fly ash in its floor, and it did have an unpleasant smell during wet and warm weather.

 

Seventy percent of the respondents said aromatic outdoor plants were a big problem, while half said the odor of wet wood was problematic. The Danish climate is very wet and lush.

 

Source

The survey results are summarized in the report Inspirationskatalog til sunde boligomrader med focus pa reduktion af kemi, lugt og partikler, which was published in 2024 by Boligforeningen Ringgarden, the organization attempting to build the development.

 

It is only available in the Danish language.

 

 

More

More articles about healthy housing on www.eiwellspring.org/saferhousing.html.

 

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