Special Issue - Housing and mental health

Caroline Hunter,Judy Nixon

doi:10.3351/ppp.0002.0001.0001

Abstract

It is well documented that mental health impairments can affect anyone, rich or poor, young or old. Indeed one in four of us will experience a mental health problem at some point in our lives. The effects of mental health problems on both individuals and people close to them can be debilitating and very destructive. Each year more than 250,000 people are admitted to psychiatric hospitals and over 4,000 people take their own lives (Mind, 2002). These facts make uncomfortable reading. However, despite the compelling evidence of the widespread prevalence of mental health problems, all too often the impact of such impairments on accessing and maintaining suitable, secure, and appropriate housing are either minimised or simply rendered invisible.

Highlights

By the 1990s it had become widely recognised in the UK that people with disabilities faced discrimination but it was not until the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA 1995) was introduced that disability rights were firmly placed on the policy agenda
The type of inequalities that commonly effect people with mental health impairments are evidenced by reference to the links between poor quality housing and vulnerability to housing stress
Drawing on data from the first continuous English and Welsh Civil and Social Justice Survey (CSJS) Pleasence and Balmer’s paper Mental Health and the Experience of Housing Problems Involving Rights explores the relationship between the prevalence of mental illness and the experience of housing rights problems

Summary

Introduction

By the 1990s it had become widely recognised in the UK that people with disabilities faced discrimination but it was not until the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA 1995) was introduced that disability rights were firmly placed on the policy agenda. Of equal significance for housing practitioners, the DDA 2005 introduced a more general duty on local authorities and registered social landlords to have due regard to the:

Results

Conclusion