Labour’s flagship housing policy, the Decent Homes Programme, which aimed to tackle the £19bn backlog of repairs in social housing, saved the health service £392m according to a new report from the BRE Trust.
A new BRE Trust study quantifies the health benefits of the government’s 10-year investment in the Decent Homes Programme, which was introduced by Department for Communities and Local Government in 2001, with the aim of improving all social housing by 2010.
Added to these savings are the annual savings to the NHS in future if the stock is maintained at a decent level and hazard free, which are estimated at £71m a year, says the report.
Other benefits include significant reductions in carbon emissions from the social sector stock and also significant reductions in fuel costs (£2bn to £1.4bn) for tenants.
Report author Simon Nicol said: “Continued investment in improving social sector homes not only makes economic sense, it also results in much broader economic benefits for both individuals and society as a whole. The cost benefits we’ve calculated related to NHS treatment costs cover only 40% of the total costs to society as a whole of poor housing – other costs not measured in this report include aftercare costs following treatment, reduced educational attainment and reduced economic performance.”
The research also considers what work remains to be done in terms of both dealing with homes that are still non-decent and in ensuring that standards are maintained in dwellings that are currently decent.
The study estimates that 759,000 dwellings (20%) of all social sector homes were non-decent in 2010. These are by and large very hard-to-treat and costly-to-treat homes. The report concludes: “If adequate money is not invested, then every home that falls into non-decency will start to cost the NHS more. Furthermore, those costs will accrue year after year until the problems are rectified. “
