This new research for the Good Home Inquiry with BritainThinks and Sciencewise asked people living in poor-quality homes what they thought would help their situations.
Over 4 million homes in the UK are in such poor condition that they threaten the health of their occupants. And over half of those occupants are over 55 years old.
As part of the Good Home Inquiry, the Centre for Ageing Better and UK Research and Innovation’s Sciencewise programme commissioned Britainthinks to deliver the Good Home Dialogue, a research project that asked people living in poor-quality homes what they thought would help. These findings will inform the eventual recommendations of the Inquiry on how to improve the quality of England’s homes.
Despite all participants in this report having experienced problems in their own homes, half of them told us they were satisfied with their homes, and this number actually increased during the dialogue. Throughout the dialogue, participants felt strongly that national and local governments, landlords and housing associations should be responsible for the quality of homes in England. While homeowners acknowledged their day-to-day responsibility to maintain their homes, they still looked to external bodies for support.
