A study examined the health and well-being impacts of moving into new, general purpose, social housing provided by registered social landlords in Scotland. Moving to new social housing was associated with improvements reported in the quality of the home (particularly in terms of damp, and warmth) and in the quality of the local neighbourhood. There was some limited evidence that self-reported health had improved.
Source: Ade Kearns, Mark Petticrew, Caroline Hoy, Phil Mason and Catherine Ferrell, The Effects of Social Housing on Health and Wellbeing: Initial findings from the SHARP study, Communities Scotland (0131 313 0044)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Dec
A report said that children who lived in bad housing were more likely to face a range of problems with their living conditions. They were more likely than other children to suffer from poor health, to suffer from a long-standing illness or disability, to dislike the area in which they lived, to have run away from home, to have been excluded from school, and to have left school with no GCSEs.
Source: Matt Barnes, Nick Lyon and Anne Conolly, The Living Standards of Children in Bad Housing, National Centre for Social Research (020 7250 1866)
Links: Summary
Date: 2006-Nov
A report said that 1 in 7 children - 1.6 million overall - were growing up homeless or in bad housing. In England, children in bad housing were twice as likely to leave school with no GCSEs. Almost 310,000 children in bad housing in Britain were suffering long-term illness or disability.
Source: Becky Rice, Against the Odds: An investigation comparing the lives of children on either side of Britain?s housing divide, Shelter (020 7505 4699)
Links: Report | Summary | Shelter press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Nov
A report examined the practice and cost of service charges being billed to leaseholders in former 'right to buy' properties to pay for repairs resulting from local authorities? obligations to bring all council properties up to the decent homes standard by 2010. It said that the scale of problems, both in terms of the number of leaseholders faced with bills in excess of £10,000 and the numbers who were faced with hardship as a result of these high bills, was modest.
Source: Assessment of the Impact of the Cost of Repairs for Right to Buy Leaseholders, Department for Communities and Local Government (0870 1226 236)
Date: 2006-Nov
A report said that Sheffield s 'decent homes' programme (the largest of its kind in the country) would have a major impact on the health and quality of life of residents reducing heart and respiratory disease, reducing the number of accidents in the home, and giving greater security and mental well-being.
Source: Jan Gilbertson, Geoff Green and David Ormandy, Decent Homes, Better Health, Centre for Regional, Economic and Social Research/Sheffield Hallam University (0114 225 3073)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Sep
An annual report provided an account of living conditions in England in 2004, including progress made since 1996 and 2001. Since 1996 the number of non-decent homes had been reduced by almost a third, from 9.1 million to 6.3 million in 2004.
Source: English House Condition Survey: 2004 Annual Report, Department for Communities and Local Government (0870 1226 236)
Links: Report | Summary | DCLG press release
Date: 2006-Sep
A report examined the impact of bad housing on children's life chances. It said the 'housing effect' meant that children growing up in bad housing had up to a 25 per cent higher risk of severe ill-health and disability during childhood and early adulthood. Homeless children were up to four times more likely to suffer mental health problems than other children. Offending behaviour might also be linked to behavioural problems that emerged among children living in poor housing conditions.
Source: Lisa Harker, Chance of a Lifetime: The impact of bad housing on children s lives, Shelter (020 7505 4699)
Links: Report | Shelter press release | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Sep
A report examined the potential for significantly improved resource efficiency in existing housing stock. Unless energy and waste in existing buildings were halved, it would not be possible to deliver on environmental targets. Consumers needed clear and consistent signals about policy directions and priorities in order to change behaviour.
Source: 'Stock Take : Delivering improvements in existing housing, Sustainable Development Commission (020 7944 4964)
Links: Report | LSE press release
Date: 2006-Jul
A paper examined whether improving the quality of housing in Scotland was sufficient to meet community needs and expectations, or whether there was also a need to consider the environment in which houses were located. It assessed the idea of some form of community environment standard.
Source: Improving the Neighbourhood: A community environment standard for Scotland?, Chartered Institute of Housing in Scotland (0131 225 4544)
Links: Discussion paper
Date: 2006-Jul
The government published a discussion paper outlining its approaches to tackling overcrowding in England. It said that the legal mechanisms for defining and dealing with overcrowding had remained unchanged since the 1930s, and were widely considered to be out of date.
Source: Tackling Overcrowding in England: A discussion paper, Department for Communities and Local Government (0870 1226 236)
Links: Discussion paper | Hansard | DCLG press release | Housing Justice press release
Date: 2006-Jul
The first 'Living in Wales' dwelling survey was published, designed to provide information on the condition of social housing stock in Wales. In 2004 less than 1 per cent of all social housing met the Welsh housing quality standard (introduced in 2002 to provide a common target standard for all housing in Wales).
Source: Living in Wales 2004: Report on Welsh Housing Quality Standard, Welsh Assembly Government (029 2082 5050)
Links: Links removed
Date: 2006-Jun
The government said that it recognized that some local authorities would not meet the 2010 target for bringing all council housing up to a decent standard. The target would therefore be relaxed for a limited number of local authorities engaged in, or wishing to pursue, major transformations of their estates; or where it was clear that better long-term value for money would be achieved by taking a little longer. The government issued revised implementation guidance.
Source: Speech by Ruth Kelly MP (Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government), 7 June 2006 | A Decent Home: Definition and guidance for implementation - June 2006 update, Department for Communities and Local Government (0870 1226 236)
Links: Text of speech | Guidance | DCLG press release | Hansard | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Jun
An Act was passed in Scotland to address problems of the condition and quality in private sector housing.
Source: Housing (Scotland) Act 2006, Scottish Executive, available from Blackwell's Bookshop (0131 622 8283)
Links: Text of Act | Explanatory notes
Date: 2006-Jan
A report highlighted specific households that were particularly vulnerable to fire: they included households containing a smoker; the lowest-income households; young households (aged 16-24); and those where householders expressed dissatisfaction with their accommodation or local area.
Source: Fires in the Home: Findings from the 2004/05 Survey of English Housing, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (0870 1226 236)
Links: Report | ODPM press release
Date: 2006-Jan
