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Ensuring housing affordability while controlling government expenditure is a concern in many countries. In the UK support for private renters is delivered via an income-related housing benefit calculated using the Local Housing Allowance. As part of a programme to reduce government spending the support provided by the Local Housing Allowance was significantly reduced in 2011, and ongoing changes to its uprating have further reduced its value. These changes have raised concerns about the suitability of homes people receiving the allowance can afford. Using a natural experiment approach by applying matching and difference-in-difference methods to housing stock data from the English Housing Survey, this research finds a statistically significant 5% increase in overcrowding for housing benefit recipients following the changes to the Local Housing Allowance, equivalent to approximately 75,000 additional households living in overcrowded conditions. Longer-term results show that overcrowding continued to increase as changes to the uprating system further reduced the value of housing benefit. The decision to reduce the Local Housing Allowance and sever its relationship with actual rents has therefore reduced the ability of recipients to access suitable housing which will have had important implications for health and well-being, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food bank use in Great Britain has risen substantially over the last decade. The considerable socioeconomic disadvantage of the food bank user population has been documented, but little research has examined whether housing problems intersect with insecure food access. Using data from 598 households accessing assistance from twenty-four food banks operating in Great Britain in 2016–2017, we found that nearly 18 per cent of households were homeless, with more having experienced homelessness in the past twelve months. Renters from both the private and social rented sectors were also overrepresented in the sample. Households in both private and social rented housing reported high rates of rent arrears and poor conditions; those in private housing were also more likely to live in homes with damp, to have moved in past year, and to be worried about a forced move in future. Overall, housing problems are widespread among food bank users; policy interventions are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are concerns that the recovery from the Great Recession in Europe has left growing numbers of people facing precarious housing situations. Yet, to our knowledge, there is no comparative measure of housing precariousness in contrast to an extensive body of work on labour market precariousness. Here, we draw on a comparative survey of 31 European countries from the 2012 wave of European Union Survey of Income and Living Conditions to develop a novel housing precariousness measure. We integrate four dimensions of housing precariousness: security, affordability, quality and access to services, into a scale ranging from 0 (not at all precarious) to 4 (most precarious). Over half of the European population report at least one element of housing precariousness; 14.7  percent report two dimensions and 2.8  percent three or more (equivalent to ~15  million people). Eastern European and small island nations have relatively greater precariousness scores. Worse precariousness tends to be more severe among the young, unemployed, single and those with low educational attainment or who live in rented homes and is associated with poor self-reported health. Future research is needed to strengthen surveillance of housing precariousness as well as to understand what policies and programmes can help alleviate it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article highlighted the importance of housing to health, emphasizing the home as a safe space amid the Covid-19 pandemic in Australia. It mentions about the poor quality housing has been linked to numerous physical and mental health conditions. It discusses about the importance of housing conditions and security amid the pandemic.

An excerpt from the essay "Ideas Past and Present," by Amy St. Clair is presented which focuses on the importance of critical thinking in the field of technology and education.

Background: Numerous aspects of housing are associated with health. However, the pathways between housing and health, particularly the psychosocial elements of housing, are less well understood. Epigenetic information alongside social survey data offers an opportunity to explore biological ageing, measured using DNA methylation, as a potential pathway through which housing affects health., Methods: We use data on housing and DNA methylation from the UK Household Longitudinal Study, linked with prior survey responses from the British Household Panel Survey, covering adults in Great Britain. We explore the association between epigenetic ageing and housing circumstances, both contemporary and historical, using hierarchical regression., Results: We find that living in a privately rented home is related to faster biological ageing. Importantly, the impact of private renting (coefficient (SE) 0.046 years (0.011) vs owned outright, p<0.001) is greater than the impact of experiencing unemployment (coefficient 0.027 years (0.012) vs employed, p<0.05) or being a former smoker (coefficient 0.021 years (0.005) vs never smoker, p<0.001). When we include historical housing circumstances in the analysis, we find that repeated housing arrears and exposure to pollution/environmental problems are also associated with faster biological ageing., Conclusion: Our results suggest that challenging housing circumstances negatively affect health through faster biological ageing. However, biological ageing is reversible, highlighting the significant potential for housing policy changes to improve health., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ.)