sharing and sanity how houses of multiple occupation may threaten the mental health of residents...
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Sharing and Sanity
How houses of multiple occupation may threaten the
mental health of residents
Caroline Barratt University of Essex [email protected]
About me and MHPMental Health and Housing Partnership
Set up by environmental services
Linking the university and local government
Research and interagency working
Mental Health and HousingMany different factors are thought to link mental health and housing……..
Housing-Mental Health
Why focus on HMOs?
‘No more will people have a home they can call their own…the sanctity of being able to make love or cry in bed without being overheard by the person in the next room’ (Comment on an article in Inside Housing)
Government health policy
Housing Benefit reforms
Vulnerable residents
Lack of knowledge
HMOs and Mental Health
Shown as particularly deleterious to mental health compared to hostels and bed and breakfast because the conditions are similar but HMOs are considered permanent (Davies 1992)
People living in hostels and B&Bs are eight times more likely to have mental health problems (Shaw et al 2008)
People living in HMOs typically come from groups of the population with a higher risk of mental illness
HMOs are often the first step on the housing ladder from homelessness.
Psychosocial model
Housing Mental Illness
ControlSocial Support
Parenting
Insecurity Identity
HMOs pose particular challenges in relation to each of these processes that may be reduced or absent in other housing tenures….………..
Ways forwardOur approach
• Qualitative study of HMOs in a UK seaside town
• Looking at current experience of HMO residents
• Using life histories to establish route into HMO accommodation
• Developing property case studies – with resident and landlord perspectives
• Quantitative ‘census’ of HMO population
Wider needs
• More knowledge on private rental sector and vulnerable residents• Assessment of initiatives to increase quality of property management• Assessment of housing routes out of hospital/prison/care system
ReferencesBritish Medical Association. 2003. Housing and health: Building for the future.
Available: http://www.bma.org.uk/images/Housinghealth_tcm41-146809.pdf [accessed 26th July 2010]
Communities and Local Government. 2010. Evaluation of the Impact of HMO Licensing and Selective Licensing. Available: http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/housing/hmoimpactevaluation [accessed 2nd August 2010].
Davies, E. 1992. The health of homeless and hidden homeless families in Reading: A report of the Reading health and Housing Project. Reading, West Berkshire Health Authority and Reading Borough Council.
Department of Health. 2010. Healthy lives, healthy people: Our strategy for public health in England. Available: http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publichealth/Healthyliveshealthypeople/index.htm [accessed 03 January 2011 2011].
Shaw M, Danny D, Brimblecombe N. 1998. Health problems in houses in multiple occupation. Environmental Health Journal 106(10): 280-281.
Evans G, Wells N, Moch A. 2003. Housing and mental health: A review of the evidence and a methodological and conceptual critique. Journal of Social Issues 59(3): 475-500.
Sharing and Sanity
How houses of multiple occupation may threaten the
mental health of residents
Caroline Barratt University of Essex [email protected]