Foundations for wellbeing – links between health and housing

The Scottish Public Health Network (ScotPHN) has recently published a new practical guide to help improve collaboration between people working within the public health and housing fields.

The aims of the report were to:

• Extend understanding of public health contribution to the issue of housing;
• Raise awareness and improve usage of existing documents e.g. SHIIAN ‘housing impact assessment’;
• Provide support documentation for local engagement and implementation; and
• Create the environment for enhanced public health input to housing at national and local levels.

The introduction of integration authorities, bringing health and social care together locally, alongside existing community planning partnerships has created new opportunities to strengthen agency relationships and embed joint working at a national and local level.

This report has been published within the context of health and social care integration, which has introduced new opportunities for strengthening inter-agency relationships and joint working.

The report highlights the need to move away from an exclusive focus on the hazards that poor housing causes to health and wellbeing and, instead, consider a broader view of the positive contribution that good housing can make to improving health, reducing inequalities, and protecting health from existing and emerging threats such as climate change.

Zhan McIntyre, Policy Lead at SFHA, said:

“This is a great piece of work, and it has been impressive how the report authors included the housing sector in the development of the guidance. We have long argued the critical role that housing plays in health and wellbeing and are happy the sector is getting greater recognition.

“We very much look forward to working with ScotPHN and other agencies to implement some of the recommendations contained within the guidance.”

The full report can be found on the Scottish Public Health Network website.