New Book: The real cost of poor housing
Authors: M Davidson, M Roys, S Nicol, D Ormandy and P Ambrose
The relationship between poor housing and poor health has been recognised for a long time, but until
recently it has not been possible to estimate the cost to society of poor housing. Although the problems of
disease associated with slum living have largely been eradicated in England, a significant number of health
and safety hazards in the home remain. ‘Poor housing’ is defined as housing which fails to meet the statutory
minimum standard for housing in England, as assessed by the Housing Health and Safety Rating System.
This report highlights weaknesses in existing models of the housing stock and proposes a new model which
overcomes them. The model uses data from the English House Condition Survey to illustrate the effects of
various scenarios and repair options. It allows all the hazards measured in the Survey to be compared, and
identifies repair solutions which provide direct benefit to the NHS through reduced injury rates and treatment
costs. This model allows the total health cost of poor housing in England to be estimated as over £600
million per year. The total cost to society each year may be greater than £1.5 billion.
