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Good housing must be key to government plan to prevent poor health
In the week that the government launched its ‘Prevention is Better than Cure’ campaign urging people to take greater responsibility for their own health, Karen Brown says she can’t help thinking that prevention starts at home
The mission to ensure that people can enjoy at least five extra healthy, independent years of life by 2035, while narrowing the gap between the experience of the richest and poorest is certainly laudable.
I think everyone would agree that ‘business as usual’ cannot go on.
With an ageing society and people living with complex conditions it is imperative that people are supported to do whatever they can to keep well.
But the condition of the homes people live in has got to be one of the key preventative measures.
We know that there are risks to people’s health from housing in poor condition.
“The condition of the homes people live in has got to be one of the key preventative measures.”
These homes are mainly in the private rented sector or in private ownership, but the subsequent costs are met by the National Health Service and local authorities from care costs.
Our research, The Hidden Costs of Poor Quality Housing in the North, shows that there are close to one million non-decent owner-occupied homes in the North – and a further 345,000 private rented sector properties that are unfit and fail to meet the Decent Homes Standard.
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Problems are caused by a range of disrepair and quality measures – lack of heating, poor insulation, dampness or lack of adaptions.
The government has outlined plans for a major push to prevent ill health with investment in prevention and ensuring that people take greater responsibility for managing their own health.
This recognises the significance of the lived environment and the harm of a ‘toxic environment’ but totally misses that for many people this also includes the homes they live in.
Worryingly, of the one million homeowners living in poor-quality housing in the North, nearly half are occupied by at least one person over 60 with a long-term illness or disability.
“There is a missing piece of the jigsaw where the homes people live can cause or exacerbate poor health.”
The scale of the problem and the increased health impacts of those living in homes that are unfit for purpose is significant enough to warrant investment to save the ultimate cost to our health services.
It has long been known that poor-condition housing harms people’s health and well-being. But the imperative to support owner-occupiers is often lacking if they are seen as asset rich and have the means to repair, improve or adapt their homes.
However, our research shows that too many areas of the North have low-value, poor-quality houses with little or no equity – a situation that has not changed since the financial crisis 10 years ago.
The Department of Health and Social Care is right to emphasise the need for effective prevention, but there is a missing piece of the jigsaw where the homes people live can cause or exacerbate poor health.
These challenges could be addressed by increased home improvement grants under a new ‘Decent Private Homes’ programme.
This could involve stock condition surveys evaluating the potential costs and savings, which could be part-funded by the savings gained from housing improvements thereby recycling savings into local or city region funding pots for home improvements.
Karen Brown, senior policy advisor, Northern Housing Consortium
