Current Activities

We are currently undertaking the following projects:

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• In collaboration with the Centre for Ageing Better, a review of the changing pattern of public expenditure on private sector housing renewal since 2000, and its impact on the number of homes renewed.

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• For Southwark Council Public Health, a Health Impact Assessment of the Council's Housing Investment Strategy to identify the health gains achievable and the optimum interventions to maximise health.

 

We are focused on the following issues connecting housing and health:

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• The Private Rented Sector: enforcement in relation to quality including regulation in relation to landlords; the adequacy of tenancies and protection for tenants, and the health consequences of insecure tenancies.

 

• The Housing, Health and Safety Rating System: assessment of its operation and effectiveness. We are contributing to the formal Review of the Rating System being undertaken by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

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• The Decent Homes Standard (DHS): assessment of its operation and effectiveness. We are contributing to the formal Review being undertaken by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. This activity includes examining the health impact of living in homes which do not meet the Standard, especially in the market and private rented sectors, and in relation to older people.

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• The role, growth and regulation of ‘Supported’ or ‘Exempt Accommodation’: members of the Partnership are actively involved in assessing the scale, impact and responses to unregulated tenancies in Birmingham compared with other metropolitan cities.

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• Enforcement and Incentives: in relation to housing quality, housing standards and warm homes. Reviewed in the context of the impact of the ending all financial support for owners and landlords to carry out improvements and repairs, a system of assistance which ran from 1949 until April 2011.

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