Tackling the country’s poor housing crisis requires a local approach on a national scale
Our country has a poor housing crisis, with almost 10 million people living in poor quality homes across England that are cold, in need of repair or have serious hazards.
Local authorities should offer one-stop-shop support to help people improve and maintain their own homes, writes our Chief Executive Dr Carole Easton OBE.
This piece first appeared in Inside Housing.
We ignore the country’s poor housing crisis at our peril.
Almost half the population live in poorly insulated properties, a large proportion of which are headed by people aged 60 or older. And nearly 10 million people are living in poor quality homes across England that are cold, in need of repair or have serious hazards.
Poor quality homes are a huge contributor to poor health, adding significant pressure to the NHS – first-year treatment alone costs £1.4bn.
The risks posed by poor housing are greatest for those in ill health or who have low incomes. The average cost to raise a home to a decent standard is a relatively modest £8,000, but this is still beyond the means of many on low incomes – for example, more than one in six older households has no savings.
The sheer size of the problem means solving it demands a solution that is far greater, more urgent and more joined-up than the current one. Delivering such a solution will transform lives on the scale of millions; it will save lives on the scale of thousands.
Everyone should have access to a comprehensive, local offer that covers home repairs and maintenance, aids and adaptations, and energy efficiency.
At present, residents find administrative and financial challenges at every turn when looking to make improvements to their homes.
Some local authorities, working with partners, provide a range of services to help people improve or maintain their homes. But it is a postcode lottery across the country as to what services are on offer and who is eligible.
As a result, most people looking to improve their homes are left to fend for themselves. Some are successful in their endeavours; some receive bad service; many others do nothing.
Everyone should have access to a comprehensive, local offer that covers home repairs and maintenance, aids and adaptations, and energy efficiency.
Building on services already in place, local authorities, charities and businesses should deliver it in partnership. It must be coordinated and include support and signposting for consumers through every step in the process. It should be open to people from all tenures, including landlords, and offered regardless of anyone’s ability to pay. It is best delivered through a comprehensive one-stop shop service.
That is why we have launched our guide to Good Home Hubs to help local authorities develop a comprehensive service through identifying existing provision gaps and learning from sector best practice. Our Good Home Hubs model is borne out of the rigorous, evidence-based analysis of England’s housing policies that was carried out as part of the Good Home Inquiry. Chaired by David Orr CBE, the inquiry launched in July 2020 and ran for more than a year.
It was underpinned by a series of research projects, including work with people living in unsafe homes, that showed many people would like to make home improvements but do not know where to turn for advice, cannot finance improvement works and/or do not know how to access services.
We believe that a Good Home Hub should look to provide: independent information and advice; independent home assessment; practical support throughout the process; targeted financial support: grants, loans and other financial products (including access to Disabled Facilities Grants); and signposting to trusted tradespeople.
No local area will be starting from scratch when thinking about a Good Home Hub offer, so it is important that each area review what is already in place and talk to residents to identify gaps.
Areas should then define the local priorities and explore how these could be delivered and resourced. Rather than making a wholesale change, they could test elements of the new hub model on a small scale to refine ideas before scaling up.
To make the Good Home Hub a reality across the country, the Centre for Ageing Better is working with a range of partners to aid learning, spread good practice and scope out the key elements of how the model should be delivered.
One of the issues in developing a more consistent, nationwide home improvement service is that examples of good practice are rarely shared. So we have also been bringing together local authorities in our Good Home Network to share learning, encourage peer support and inspire innovation in home improvement services.
Our next step is the commissioning of an evaluation of exemplar models of home improvement services across England. This project will be the most detailed in-depth review of home improvement services in England.
It will identify the significant local area variations in services, and explore who can access these services as well as how effective they are in ensuring that older people live in homes that are warm and safe. Delivered by a consortium of housing experts led by the Centre for Regional and Economic Social Research at Sheffield Hallam, the project will run until September next year.
There are no easy solutions to an issue of the magnitude of this country’s poor housing crisis. But we believe that Good Home Hubs that are local and easy to use are the key to improving people’s homes and keeping them safe, warm and secure.