Health and Housing Must Connect for Better Outcomes

The last week has seen endless comment on the performance of Sir Keir Starmer and his Labour government over their first twelve months in power. However you might personally judge their actions, it is hard to deny that health and housing are not cornerstones of their agenda. Following up the spending review further announcements were made last week providing some more detail on how those funds will be spent and what on.

On the Affordable Homes Programme, the government stated the aim to deliver 300,000 homes with 60% to be available at social rent. Newly built council homes will be exempt from the Right to Buy Scheme for 35 years.

A consultation was announced on a new Decent Homes Standard, which will be extended for the first time to the private rented sector. A line from the supporting press release caught the eye…nearly half of social and private rented homes would be deemed as not decent under the new proposed standard. I was shocked by that, but it did not seem to cause much outrage. Are we simply indifferent to the quality of our housing? Should we not be more outraged?

One thing it does do, is show the vast task of what we need to deliver for our housing sector to improve its stock and the life outcomes of its residents.

The new standards will hold tenant safety at their core, something which can only be encouraged. The government say that they are prioritising safety with the introduction of complementary legislation such as the upcoming Awaab’s Law, although it will be a number of years before the upgraded standard comes into being.

With this emphasis on safety, last week also saw reforms announced to the Building Safety Regulator that saw a new non-executive Chair and new Chief Executive appointed, the introduction of a new fast track process and a move towards a single constructor regulator.

Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards are also going to be implemented for the first time into the social housing sector.

On the health side, a new 10-year health plan was launched to “bring the NHS closer to home”.

Forever entwined with the Labour Party, their latest vision for the service focuses on neighbourhood health services and the introduction of new neighbourhood health centres.

Placing health “under one roof” in the heart of local communities which will be open 12 hours a day, six days a week the aim is to move care out of hospitals and into the community.

This geographical switch will be backed by investment into digital solutions to advance the current NHS App by utilising AI to give users direct access to trusted health information and allowing users to articulate their health conditions confidentially.

But the strand, which is close to our heart, is the desire to move from one of treating sickness to one of prevention. It is a narrative we are not embarrassed to keep repeating and it begins for us by getting the health of the home right. We spend most of our lives indoors. So, if we can make homes and the buildings, we occupy healthier then we can help to influence the health of the nation.

There is a lot to digest here, but like everything it is actions not words which will make the ultimate difference. For us, we welcome the commitment to housing and to health. The challenge we feel is the link between them. If we can get that right, we believe we really can upgrade our housing stock to provide better outcomes for people and our communities.