Housing conditions have a massive impact on people’s health and wellbeing. Physical characteristics of the dwelling itself, household experience, and aspects of place and community can all impact directly on health, as well as indirectly on health determinants, such as financial circumstances, education and employment, relationships and social life. Housing also has the potential to create, sustain, or exacerbate inequalities in health between different social groups. (Tweed et al, 2017)1
Housing is one of the core issues that makes up the workload of any local councillor. This short, discussion-based workshop will help newly elected councillors get to grips with the way that housing and health impact on each other, learn about the Place Standard tool and discuss what kind of issues they will be working on over the next few years.
This event will be chaired by Phil Mackie, Lead Consultant, Scottish Public Health Network.
Agenda:
10.30 – 11:00 Registration
11:00 Welcome and Introductions
11:10 Health, housing and homelessness
Scottish Public Health Network – Overview of reports on health, housing and homelessness
Phil Mackie, ScotPHN Lead
The Scottish Public Health Network has produced reports on health and homelessness and housing in recent years. These have acted as a catalyst for Public Health in Scotland to re-engage with these issues and re-new its efforts to improve health and reduce health inequalities, re-engaging with the housing and voluntary sectors.
Current activity
Neil Hamlet, Consultant in Public Health Medicine, NHS Fife & NHS Health Scotland
NHS Health Scotland has developed work programmes to take forward actions from these reports. Homelessness is one area where public health policy and housing policy impact on one another – and an area in which practitioners and decision makers (including councillors) need to work together to make a difference.
11:45 Q&A
12:00 Break for lunch and networking
12:30 Assessing the impact of the 50,000 new affordable homes
Martin Higgins, Scottish Health and Inequalities Impact Assessment Network
The Scottish Health and Inequalities Impact Assessment Network’s recent impact assessment on the Scottish Government’s 50,000 affordable, new homes, due to be delivered by 2021.
13:00 Q&A
13:15 The Place Standard
Kat Hasler, NHS Health Scotland
The Place Standard tool is designed to help you think about the different elements that make up a place when designing services and the public realm. The Scottish Government, Architecture and Design Scotland and NHS Health Scotland have developed the Place Standard tool to support the delivery of high quality public places, which can help to reduce health inequalities.
13:45 Q&A
14:00 Workshop session: key issues for elected members
What issues are newly elected members likely to face during their terms of office? How can elected members make an impact in housing and public health policy making? How can the Place Standard help?
15:00 Close of workshop
1 Tweed, E, McCann, A, Arnot, J. Foundations for well-being: reconnecting public health and housing. A Practical Guide to Improving Health and Reducing Inequalities. ScotPHN. January 2017
