Welfare Reform on the Web (July 2008): Social housing - overseas

Bringing health home: householder and provider perspectives on the healthy housing programme in Auckland, New Zealand

C. Bullen and others

Social Science and Medicine, vol. 68, 2008, p. 1185-1196

This paper presents findings from the Healthy Housing Programme, an intervention that aims to enhance residents' well-being through improving the housing stock and better integrating housing, health and social services. The Programme focuses on families at high risk of infectious diseases living in deprived neighbourhoods with high concentrations of public and other low-income housing in Auckland, New Zealand. The evaluation took place over three years (2004-2007) and sought to illuminate the dynamic interplay of material aspects of housing with the socio-cultural dimensions of the dwelling experience. Benefits identified include a larger stock of more appropriately designed social housing, increased co-ordination between social service sectors and organisations, strengthened community networks through referrals to helping agencies, and increased insight of providers into the conditions of social housing and the lives of tenants.