If homes are fit for purpose we can save NHS billions – Holly Holder

Health inequalities have worsened over the past decade, with the least well off spending many more years in poor health than the rich, and life expectancy beginning to decline for women in the poorest areas.

At the same time, we are seeing our NHS struggle to cope with growing demand – a challenge thrown into sharp relief by the threat of a coronavirus outbreak.

It’s clear that serious, urgent action is needed in many areas if we are to improve the health of the population, reduce inequalities and begin to take the strain off our health service – this week’s Budget must be the start, not the end, of the mission.

A crucial part of this puzzle must be to improve the condition of Britain’s dangerously poor-quality housing stock. Over 400,000 people in Yorkshire and the Humber alone are living in homes that endanger their health, safety or wellbeing.

Poor housing doesn’t just have devastating personal consequences, 
but costs the NHS an estimated £1.4bn a year.

The most common reason for a home to be classed as ‘non-decent’ is because it contains a serious hazard – like a fall risk, or excess cold.

Falls in the home are the main cause of accidental injury-related death among older people.

And a cold home can worsen common conditions like arthritis, lung conditions and asthma.

It can also increase the risk of a stroke or heart attack, and exacerbate mental health problems like depression.

Millions of people struggle to keep their homes warm enough – some because they can’t afford to keep their heating on, and some because their home is so badly insulated that it simply isn’t possible to heat it properly.

The need to build more affordable housing is, rightly, high on the political agenda.

But the state of the houses we already have is a hidden crisis. We lose sight, in the political debate, of these homes at our peril – 80 per cent of the homes we’ll be living in by 2050 have already been built today.

Britain has some of the oldest housing stock in Europe, with millions still living in homes that were built before the
end of the First World War.

This longevity is, in a way, to be celebrated – but if we don’t act now to bring our homes up to scratch, we’ll spend the decades to come living in increasingly poor-quality homes which damage our wellbeing and heap extra pressure on the NHS.

The good news is it wouldn’t take much to do so.

The average cost to bring a home up to a decent standard is less than £3,000 – and a third of all non-decent homes could be repaired for just £1,000.

If we took action to repair every single poor-quality home in England today, the savings to the NHS would pay back the cost in just eight years.

Not to mention the immeasurable difference these simple repairs would make to the lives of millions.

From being able to invite visitors into your home to simply being able to move around it without fear of a fall, it’s impossible to overestimate the impact that a good home has on our everyday lives.

If Boris Johnson is serious about ‘national renewal’, he would do well to begin with the foundations of a good life: the bricks and mortar we grow up and grow old in.

A good home is fundamental to
living well at all ages, and too many people are suffering needlessly in homes that put their health and wellbeing at risk.

Urgent and meaningful action to bring Britain’s homes up to scratch must be at the heart of this Government’s plans now the Budget is in place.

Holly Holder is the Senior Evidence Manager at the Centre for Ageing Better.