As people who work in health, we see and treat symptoms of an unjust housing system system. The ‘housing crisis’ is a systemic problem that requires systemic solutions. Our political leaders have the opportunity and the means to change it, yet it is often ignored, all while developers and landlords profit off our collective sickness.
We believe a housing system that is just, fair and healthy is possible. In order to achieve this, we need to reclaim homes as sites for health, embedding health justice principles into housing policy. From its inception, the NHS was not meant to stand alone, but instead work in harmony with a housing system that promoted public health. We need to rethink housing beyond commodification, and take action to reclaim housing for our health, and use it as a public health asset.
If you’re a health worker, sign this open letter to the UK Minister of State for Housing to demand social homes for public health!
To: Minister of State for Housing Matthew Pennycook MP
Our homes are key to our health. The bricks and mortar can provide a foundation for our health and wellbeing, whilst affordability and security offer stability that is essential for people and communities to thrive. Despite this, our housing system is in crisis. Forty years of inequitable housing and economic policies have turned homes into sites of sickness that adversely impact our mental, physical and social health in the pursuit of profit. Poor-quality housing, unaffordable rents and insecure tenancies mean that millions of people are unsafe and unwell at home. Every day, in our Emergency Departments, GP surgeries, clinics and home visits, health workers witness the symptoms of this systemic neglect and exploitation among patients and communities.
According to Shelter, 17.5 million people in the UK are living in overcrowded, dangerous, unstable or unaffordable housing, and the NHS currently spends around £1.4 billion a year treating people affected by poor housing. One of the most serious effects of insufficient housing supply over time has been an increase in homelessness and reliance on ‘temporary accommodation’, which is associated with especially adverse health outcomes. At least 309,000 people were estimated to be statutorily homeless in December 2023 (including 140,000 children), and rough sleeping is 61% higher than 10 years ago.
We need urgent political action to respond to this growing public health crisis. This requires taking action to reclaim housing as a public health asset. There are immediate steps this government must take:
1. Build Social Homes
We are calling for a commitment to a major programme of building homes for social rent, including more accessible social homes, to reduce inequities and support collective health. Social housing not only pays for itself through savings in welfare, homelessness services and healthcare expenditure, but also delivers net social value beyond health, including economic prosperity and life opportunities. Moreover, housing is closely linked with our climate through insulation and heat resilience: healthier homes enable a healthier planet.
2. Reform Right to Buy
The Right to Buy (in England) should be reformed to stop the transfer of social homes into the hands of private landlords. This could involve devolving power to suspend Right to Buy to local authorities in order to better control the availability of high-quality housing stock to communities that need them, or banning Right to Buy for all new builds.
3. Decent homes standards for private renters
A legally-binding Decent Homes Standard (DHS) exists for social tenants, and the same needs to apply for private tenants. This would significantly increase local authorities’ enforcement powers and help to hold private landlords to account.
4. Licensing schemes
Licensing schemes are an important way for councils to improve standards for private rentals. By establishing these schemes, councils can charge a fee to landlords to be licensed and get additional powers to enforce standards and issue fines.
5. Control rents to achieve security
While building more homes will help in the long run to reduce house prices and rents, this is not a solution to the housing crisis given its nature and extent. A large-scale increase in social-home building, as well as an expansion of the welfare system to ensure low-income households can afford homes where they need to live, are fundamental steps – but stabilising rents should be part of the solution alongside these measures.
Signed: