Finding the right tools to tackle the nation’s poor quality housing crisis
Millions of people across the country are living in homes that put their health at risk.
A new way of tackling the challenge is underway in Lincolnshire, writes our Research and Policy Manager for Homes Nazia Azad.
Local authorities across England find themselves in a difficult bind when it comes to housing.
They know that significant proportions of their residents live in homes, of all kinds of tenures, that do not support them to live safely as they age.
In parts of the country, as many as one in five households headed by someone aged 55 or over are properties that are cold, have damp and mould, have fallen into disrepair or contain fall risks.
All these hazards have the potential to seriously impact residents’ physical and mental health.
Local authorities know that if they could reduce the number of people at risk from their own home, it would reduce pressures on their own budgets, and the budgets of other organisations such as the NHS.
Every £1 spent on fall-prevention adaptions in the home delivers an estimated cost saving of £1.10 to the NHS and £4.56 saving to wider society.
But a significant barrier is that funding for services needed to fix non-decent homes have been dwindling over the last decade or so. As highlighted in our Lost Opportunities report, over a 12-year period more than £2 billion in home improvement grants were removed by the government. This prevented the repair of almost 600,000 homes, endangering the lives of more than one million people.
The prospect of this level of funding being restored to local authorities anytime soon feels pretty remote. And so local authorities are finding innovative ways to deliver effective support by working more closely with partners across housing, health and the voluntary sector.
One such approach is being trialled in Lincolnshire and delivering significant results. The Good Home Lincs pilot programme brings together Lincolnshire Good Home Alliance, district councils, the county council, health partners and voluntary organisations to improve housing conditions and coordinate support for residents.
By aligning services and sharing expertise, the partnership has been able to strengthen local home improvement support even in the face of financial constraints.
The pilot is the first time that the Centre for Ageing Better’s vision for Good Home Hubs, local one-stop shops for home improvement support, has been trialled in a sustained fashion.
Ultimately we want to see a national network of Good Home Hubs to ensure that everyone is able to access comprehensive home improvement support, whatever their postcode. Our model advocates that by coordinating services in one place, Good Home Hubs can make it much easier for residents, particularly older people, to understand what help is available and how to access it.
To mark the first year of the pilot in Lincolnshire, we have published our A year of a Good Home Hub in Lincolnshire report which reveals how more than 200 households across the county have been supported.
Around half of those supported by the programme had their issues resolved through advice, information and signposting via the programme’s extensive information support while risks to health and safety such as damp and mould and potential for accident or injury were resolved in other residents’ homes thanks to Good Home Lincs.
The median cost of practical repairs and adaptations carried out by the programme was around £500, demonstrating how modest, targeted spending can address significant housing risks. Residents were left feeling safer, warmer and more able to manage daily life after receiving support.
We hope that other local authorities will adopt this model. To support them in establishing their own one-stop home improvement service, we have developed a suite of tools in partnership with management consultants Campbell Tickell.
The tools have been shaped by insights from the ‘Better Homes, Better Lives’ report which highlighted that many people live with housing issues for years before seeking support with serious issues often normalised or seen as an inevitable part of ageing.
The findings also highlighted significant uncertainty amongst residents as to what support exists and eligibility for help. Finding information can be difficult, especially if support is available from a range of organisations, which can lead to long delays or repeated referrals between services. In the meantime, issues go unresolved and worsen.
Our new Healthy Homes Assessment Tool was created to help address some of these challenges. Rather than overwhelming users with technical detail, the tool takes a practical, person-centred approach. It helps people recognise common issues in their homes and understand what steps they might take next.
The tool has been shaped by Experts by Experience (EbE) alongside a dedicated group of practitioners working in local authorities. Early testing highlighted that the original design felt too text-heavy and difficult to navigate so the tool was modified to have more simplified language and a more visual and accessible user experience.
Participants also asked for greater clarity about the range and limitations of the tool, and following modifications, the final version places greater emphasis on clearer pathways so users can feel more confident about what steps to take next.
Rather than a one-size-fits-all solution, the tool can be modified by any participating authority or organisation in order to tailor content, user journeys and local details to reflect the specific local circumstance.
Improving housing quality requires system-wide change – from national policy and investment to stronger partnerships between housing, health and care. Over the past two decades, local authorities have been losing essential home improvement resource just as demand has been rising.
And while tools, like the one we have developed, will not solve all housing challenges on their own, they can play a meaningful role in prevention by helping people recognise issues earlier and connect more easily with the support that already exists.
And when that tool is combined with home improvement support which is all located and easily accessed in one place, then local authorities are in a better position to meet that home improvement demand. And then the bind starts to come loose.
Practitioners who are interested in deeper insights, shared learning and connecting with others are invited to join the Good Home Network, a learning network dedicated to driving change and improving housing quality across England managed by the Centre for Ageing Better.
