Thursday, March 05, 2020
Is your home a danger to your health?
The Guardian reports on a disturbing study by the Centre for Ageing Better and Care & Repair England based on analysis of the English Household Survey, which has found that more than 2 million people aged over 55 live in homes that endanger their health, with older homeowners who cannot afford to maintain their home most at risk.
The study found that accidents and illnesses caused by dangerous homes cost the NHS £1.4bn a year. The NHS spends £513m on emergency treatment for people aged over 55 who live in the poorest-quality housing and have suffered incidents linked to non-decent homes, including falls and health problems exacerbated by cold homes.
The average non-decent home could be brought up to a decent standard for £28,660. A third of homes could be repaired for less than £1,000. But previous funding to address the problem has been withdrawn:
The report says more than 4.3m homes do not meet basic standards of decency, most commonly because of the presence of a serious hazard to the occupants’ health or safety.
Almost half of these homes are lived in by someone over 55 years old. One million of them are home to at least one child. At least 20% of all homes in the private rented sector are non-decent.
“After decades of year-on-year decreases in the number of non-decent homes in England, the rate of improvement is stalling for all ages,” said [Anna] Dixon [the chief executive at the Centre for Ageing Better]. “In the case of households headed by someone aged over 75 years old, the trend has actually reversed: more than one in five elderly people live in a dangerous home, more than any other age group.”
More than a million over-55s live in a home that poses a serious risk to their health, most commonly through excess cold or a fall hazard. Two million households are headed by someone aged 65 and over who finds it difficult to heat their homes.
Sue Adams, the chief executive of Care & Repair England, said: “An investment of £4.3bn to repair hazards for households headed by those aged over 55 would be paid back in just eight years through savings to the NHS.”
There are no comparable figures for Wales, but the Welsh Government is in a unique position to make a difference in this area by conducting its own study and putting in place measures to deal with poor housing conditions for this age group. Given the pressures on the Welsh NHS, perhaps they need to get on with it.
The study found that accidents and illnesses caused by dangerous homes cost the NHS £1.4bn a year. The NHS spends £513m on emergency treatment for people aged over 55 who live in the poorest-quality housing and have suffered incidents linked to non-decent homes, including falls and health problems exacerbated by cold homes.
The average non-decent home could be brought up to a decent standard for £28,660. A third of homes could be repaired for less than £1,000. But previous funding to address the problem has been withdrawn:
The report says more than 4.3m homes do not meet basic standards of decency, most commonly because of the presence of a serious hazard to the occupants’ health or safety.
Almost half of these homes are lived in by someone over 55 years old. One million of them are home to at least one child. At least 20% of all homes in the private rented sector are non-decent.
“After decades of year-on-year decreases in the number of non-decent homes in England, the rate of improvement is stalling for all ages,” said [Anna] Dixon [the chief executive at the Centre for Ageing Better]. “In the case of households headed by someone aged over 75 years old, the trend has actually reversed: more than one in five elderly people live in a dangerous home, more than any other age group.”
More than a million over-55s live in a home that poses a serious risk to their health, most commonly through excess cold or a fall hazard. Two million households are headed by someone aged 65 and over who finds it difficult to heat their homes.
Sue Adams, the chief executive of Care & Repair England, said: “An investment of £4.3bn to repair hazards for households headed by those aged over 55 would be paid back in just eight years through savings to the NHS.”
There are no comparable figures for Wales, but the Welsh Government is in a unique position to make a difference in this area by conducting its own study and putting in place measures to deal with poor housing conditions for this age group. Given the pressures on the Welsh NHS, perhaps they need to get on with it.
