Intervening in the cycle of poverty, poor housing and poor health: the role of housing providers in enhancing tenants’ mental wellbeing
Open accessAbstract
Poverty, poor housing and poor health are complexly interconnected in a cycle that has proven resistant to intervention by housing providers or policy makers. Research often focuses on the impacts of the physical housing defects, particularly upon rates of (physical) illness and disease. There has been comparatively little research into the ways in which housing services can underpin the generation of positive health and, especially, wellbeing. Drawing on qualitative data from 75 tenants in the social and private rented sectors, this paper describes the findings of a research project that tracked tenants’ experiences across their first year in a new tenancy in Greater Glasgow, Scotland. The project collected data on tenants’ perceptions of housing and housing service quality, financial coping and health and wellbeing, which was analysed using the principles of Realist Evaluation to elucidate impacts and causal pathways. Being able to establish a sense of home was key to tenants’ wellbeing. The home provided many tenants with a recuperative space in which to shelter from daily stressors and was a source of autonomy and social status. A sense of home was underpinned by aspects of the housing service, property quality and affordability which are potentially amenable to intervention by housing providers. These findings raise questions about the extent to which social housing providers and the private rental market in the UK are able to meet the needs of vulnerable tenants. They suggest that approaches to housing provision that go beyond providing a basic dwelling are needed to successfully intervene in the cycle of poverty, poor housing and poor health.
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This sense of home was underpinned by the services and interventions that the landlords provided.
“This sense of home was underpinned by the services and interventions that the landlords provided.”
From Review of the Impact of Housing Quality on Inequalities in Health and Well-Being (2023) · cites this paper as [46]
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- Authors
- Garnham, L., Rolfe, S., Anderson, I., Seaman, P., Godwin, J., & Donaldson, C.
- Affiliations
- Glasgow Centre for Population Health (GB)
- University of Stirling (GB)
- Glasgow Caledonian University (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Garnham, Lisa
- Venue
- Journal of Housing and the Built Environment
- Published
- 2021-06-03
- Volume
- 37
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 1-21
- ISSN
- 1566-4910 (ISSN-L)
- 1573-7772
- PMC
- PMC8873072
- OpenAlex
- W3169363865
- Cited by
- 27
- References
- 55
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 4
- FWCI
- 4.77
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Housing and the Built Environment (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- ENLIGHTEN (Jurnal Bimbingan dan Konseling Islam) (acceptedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- ResearchOnline (Glasgow Caledonian University) (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
- Strathprints: The University of Strathclyde institutional repository (University of Strathclyde) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Stirling Online Research Repository (University of Stirling) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- ResearchOnline (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Economic and Social Research Council (MR/L0032827/1)
- Medical Research Council (MR/L0032827/1)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Homelessness and Social Issues
- Social Sciences › Urban Studies › Urban and Rural Development Challenges
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Housing Market and Economics
- Keywords
- poverty cycle, social housing, private rental housing, sense of home, housing affordability, property quality, tenant experiences, housing providers, housing and health
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