Building healthier foundations: How to improve access to healthy housing for all
The report's executive summary is below. Click here 1.05 MB to download a pdf version of the full report, and here to access an editable Google doc version.
This report is authored by Ed Pemberton. It is part of a larger project on health inequalities funded by the Health Foundation.
Summary
The housing crisis in the UK is not just an economic one. It is a public health crisis, that is denying too many people the vital foundations of a healthy life. We can see that the impacts of this crisis do not fall evenly. They follow existing social inequalities, because access to housing remains largely shaped by economic factors, such as someone’s income and wealth, or where they live. This means that solving the housing crisis is a vital step to turn around worsening health inequalities.
We see the impacts of this crisis across all tenures, harming our clients' mental and physical health in three distinct ways. First, through unaffordable costs that push people into negative budgets and reduce spending on essentials. Second, through poor housing conditions, where exposure to disrepair, damp, mould, and excessive cold directly harms physical and mental health. Finally, through dislocation, where extreme housing crises and sudden relocations sever links to vital services, and break up networks of family and community.
The government have prioritised housing this parliament. This report highlights some key risks to their ambitions. Inadequate housing cost support for people in the private rented sector is intensifying the impact of high housing costs and pushing people into homelessness. The wider fiscal pressure on local government is threatening their crucial role in implementing and enforcing new legislation. Too much pressure to deal with problems in the here and now risks draining resources from their ability to enact longer term preventive measures.
Resolving the housing crisis will not happen over night. But following the commitments below will put the country on a trajectory to where a healthy home could be within everyone’s grasp.
Short-term: Uplift Local Housing Allowance to reflect reality.
Medium-term: Effective implementation of the Renters' Rights Act, Awaab's Law, the expanded Decent Homes Standard and higher minimum energy efficiency standards, closely monitoring local authority capacity.
Long-term: Empower councils to build genuinely affordable homes for social rent as a sustainable solution to the housing crisis.