Personalised housing support to improve health and well-being: findings from a local pilot programme in Yorkshire, England

ABSTRACT

The contribution that housing associations have made to public health in recent years is recognised within research and policy literature. This paper examines a partnership pilot intervention implemented by one housing association and one community healthcare service provider that aimed to improve the health and well-being of people with complex needs living in social housing stock in one area in England. The pilot delivered co-commissioned personalised support using a holistic model of care. This paper describes the pilot intervention and associated findings drawn from a mixed methods evaluation. The findings illustrate positive service user reports, including improved health and well-being, increased independence and reduced social isolation. The intervention was also associated with reduced use of community health-care services; with an estimated potential local net saving of £20,818 during the year of the pilot. In conclusion, this small-scale pilot intervention supported clients with complex health needs whilst reducing demands on community health-care services. Despite more research being needed in this area, particularly from larger and longer-term studies, this paper contributes to the evidence base by illustrating an effective health and housing practice-based partnership approach.

KEYWORDS:

• Housing
• health
• housing and community care
• evaluation
• health service use
• older people
• social isolation
• holistic approach

This article is related to:

Research for city practice

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by Connect Housing and Locala. 

Notes on contributors

Louise Warwick-Booth

Louise Warwick-Booth has a background in sociology and specific interests in health and social policy. Louise has conducted research with vulnerable women, drawing upon feminist participatory approaches to data collection. Her evaluation research is used in practice to further develop interventions, and to capture the voice of service users. Louise has published several text-books such as Social Inequality, 2nd Edition (2019), Global Health Studies: A Social Determinants Perspective (2018) and Contemporary Health Studies: An Introduction (2012 with colleagues). Louise is also the author of numerous journal articles.

Susan Coan

Susan Coan works on a wide variety of health-related research projects and has a great deal of experience working with vulnerable groups of people, for example, people with mental health problems, adults with learning disabilities, young children and older adults in general. Susan is also part of the CommUNIty team, supporting the development of sustainable community partnerships between third sector organisations and Leeds Beckett University, promoting improvements to community health and wellbeing. It works by promoting knowledge exchange between communities, community organisations and academics, fostering collaborative research and enterprise and opening up opportunities for participation in higher education.

Anne-Marie Bagnall

Anne-Marie Bagnall is an experienced systematic reviewer and researcher. She uses innovative methods of evidence synthesis to determine what works to improve people’s health and wellbeing and reduce health inequalities. She is an Associate Lecturer for the UK Cochrane Centre Learn and Teach Faculty, and a member of the What Works for Wellbeing Centre’s National Methods Advisory Group. Anne-Marie’s research focuses on evaluations and evidence syntheses of interventions that may reduce health inequalities. For example, a NIHR-funded systematic review of peer interventions in prison settings and a systematic scoping review and case studies to inform the NICE Community Engagement guidance update.