Losing homes through mortgage possession: a ‘new’ public health issue

Abstract

During the last decade there has been an unprecedented growth in mortgage possessions in the UK, with 820 households a week losing their homes in 1996. The signs are that this trend is set to continue. This paper describes the processes involved in losing a home through mortgage possession. A number of features which characterize this experience are identified, these are: living with debt; uncertainty; and lack of control. Drawing on recent developments in the health inequalities literature, this paper argues that these experiences may be important psychosocial mechanisms which may help to explain the link between problematic home ownership and poor health. High levels of problematic home ownership and the possession of homes are relatively new sociostructural phenomena, and ones which must not go unnoticed by those who are keen to keep abreast of the changing dimensions of health inequalities, and those who are engaged with developing ‘healthy public policies’.