The 2006 English House Condition Survey was published. In 2006, there were 22 million homes in England, of which 7.7 million homes were 'non-decent', under the updated definition of the decent homes standard. 29 per cent of social housing was non-decent, compared to 35 per cent of owner-occupied housing and 47 per cent of private rented accommodation.
Source: English House Condition Survey 2006: Annual Report, Department for Communities and Local Government (0870 1226 236)
Links: Report | Summary | Inside Housing report
Date: 2008-Nov
A report said that the government needed to urgently begin improvements to make homes more energy efficient, if it were to reduce the United Kingdom's carbon footprint by 80 per cent by 2050. Some homes were so environmentally harmful that they might have to be demolished.
Source: Low Carbon Existing Homes, UK Green Building Council (020 7580 0623)
Links: Report | UK-GBC press release | Guardian report
Date: 2008-Oct
An article examined the relationship between housing conditions and health. Worsening housing conditions, measured in three domains, were independently associated with deterioration in health, especially the number of reported health problems in women.
Source: David Pevalin, Mark Taylor and Jennifer Todd, 'The dynamics of unhealthy housing in the UK: a panel data analysis', Housing Studies, Volume 23 Number 5
Links: Abstract
Date: 2008-Sep
A report summarized the evidence for the impact of buildings on human health and safety, including the effects of overcrowded housing conditions on physical and mental well-being.
Source: Review of Health and Safety Risk Drivers, Department for Communities and Local Government (0870 1226 236)
Links: Report | Inside Housing report
Date: 2008-Sep
A report said that the longer children lived in bad housing, the more likely they were to suffer from health problems, get bullied, and struggle to keep up with homework. Policy-makers needed to address the various ways bad housing appeared to detrimentally affect outcomes for children, and focus on reducing the substantial number of children who lived in bad housing for long periods.
Source: Matt Barnes, Sarah Butt and Wojtek Tomaszewski, What Happens to Children in Persistently Bad Housing?, National Centre for Social Research (020 7250 1866)
Links: Summary
Date: 2008-Sep
A report by a committee of MPs said that the government should do more to improve the energy efficiency of existing homes.
Source: Existing Housing and Climate Change, Seventh Report (Session 2007-08), HC 432, House of Commons Communities and Local Government Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | BBC report | Inside Housing report
Date: 2008-Apr
A report said that the housing stock could be easily transformed into cheaper-to-run, low-carbon homes by 2020: but, without a radical shift in policy, the government was set to fall short of its target for cutting household energy bills and reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
Source: Ian Preston, How Low: Achieving optimal carbon savings from the UK's existing housing stock, Centre for Sustainable Energy (0117 934 1400)
Links: Report | CSE press release
Date: 2008-Apr
