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Health and Housing – are we at an inflection point?

 



Earlier this month the British Medical Journal published results of a survey by the Royal College of GPs on time spent on non-clinical or non medical requests from patients – which showed that England’s GPs are “overwhelmed” with requests for support on housing and benefits. Not surprising to many, it appears that our individual and collective health is increasingly being defined by social determinants – and GPs are ill-equipped to address these.

 

At the same time increasing numbers of local communities are facing reduced GP services due to new housing development, in many cases exacerbated by housing developers reneging on Section 106 agreements to provide new GP surgeries.

 

 

As the government prepares its budget announcements next week, we can expect both housing delivery and NHS funding to feature prominently, having been declared “broken” by ministers and their advisors. Past governments and budgets have regarded housing and health as separate problems requiring separate budgetary lines – but now we know better. The intersection of health and housing has never been more obvious and relevant.

 

And increasingly we’re seeing efforts to build evidence that supports actions and interventions to improve health through housing. Here are just a few I’ve encountered in the last few weeks:


Research published this week from TRUUD demonstrated how investment in real estate impacts health in local areas, and tested a new model that can provide investors with a better understanding of the health and societal cost and benefit implications of developments in their asset portfolio. The project’s head of real estate investment commented

 

 

“Our research tells us that urban investors want to act on health but there is a lack of meaningful data to inform early appraisal and asset management decisions.”

 

Some of these challenges are being addressed in a forthcoming report from the Institute of Health Equity at UCL. Building Health Equity – the Role of Developers presents an evidence base on the interrelationships between housing, neighbourhoods and health, and offers recommendations for  developers, investors and operators to improve health equity in local communities.

 

Last week’s Healthy City Design Congress in Liverpool presented two days of evidence, experience and ideas focused on connecting the built environment to the health of individuals and communities. The Congress was opened with a powerful message from professor Chris Whitty, The Chief Medical Officer for England, which emphasised  the importance of homes, neighbourhoods and places in shaping our health.

 

 

And earlier this week the DHSC launched its site for public input of ideas on how to fix the NHS. “Our NHS is broken, but not beaten. Together we can fix it” it headlines.

 

Amongst the rants and the humour (Wetherspoon’s in all hospitals anyone? How about all clinicians to be called Dr Who as a way of reducing the cost of name badges?)  there are lots of suggestions focused on housingdemonstrating a widening and deeper understanding of the intrinsic links between housing and health.

 

Collectively these recent events present an opportunity to build a national consensus that the development of homes and places must address and account for the health of people and communities. A good start would be embedding these principles in the National Planning Policy Framework, currently under review. This would support local, incremental initiatives, many already underway as pilots.

 

We are at an inflection point in our approach to housing and health – both are seen as broken, and experiencing crisis. But as the saying goes, never let a good crisis go to waste.

 

 

 

Clare Delmar

Listen to Locals

26 October 2024

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