The UK’s satisfaction with its housing has fallen for the fourth quarter in a row, which has a significant impact on people’s health and wellbeing, according to Legal &General’s Rebuilding Britain Index.
The survey says its housing score declined to 56/100, “significantly lower than all other forms of economic, built and digital infrastructure measured by the index”. This score was 60/100 in April 2021.
The index was established last April to monitor the progress of the government’s Levelling Up white paper, published last February, on a quarterly basis.
It surveys 20,000 people a year tracking social and economic progress across 52 measures, including health and social care, education, housing, jobs and the economy prosperity, environment, energy, transport and digital.
The index says “housing is clearly linked to health outcomes and the UK’s sense of wellbeing and happiness”, adding that those satisfied with their local area as a place to live score 20 points higher on housing, health, transport and environment index scores.
It points out that poor housing can lead to localised gaps in life expectancy. In Manchester city centre life expectancy is 83 years, while in Newton Heath, in the northeast of the city, that measure falls to 70.7 years.
The survey says those “very satisfied” with their lives achieved a housing index score of 64/100 compared to just 42/100 among those “very dissatisfied” with their lives.
And those “very satisfied” with their local area as a place to live achieve a Housing index score of 63/100 compared to just 39/100 among those “very dissatisfied” with their local area as a place to live.
L&G calls for “targeted investment across the entire range of economic and built infrastructure in order to narrow the gaps in localised health outcomes”.
Overall, the index, across all of its measures, remained flat, at a score of 64/100, for the fourth successive quarter, although there were improvements to scores on jobs and the economy.
Legal & General chief executive Nigel Wilson says: “The Index is very clear about housing. We need more and better housing for all types of tenure – build to sell, build to rent, affordable housing and later life living.
“Housing is an issue that can be tackled, especially if we use modern methods of construction to create climate-friendly homes to support people throughout their different life stages.
“Both for housing and for broader economic performance, all regions of the UK need a rapid increase in investment – into the very fabric of the country and into new and growing businesses creating high-productivity, high-pay jobs. The financial fire-power to invest to offset these headwinds exists, not least in our pension system – it needs to be used much more productively.
“Reducing health inequalities is a key part of levelling up. Our own data shows that the UK’s housing correlates with health and wellbeing outcomes.
“Better housing drives better health, and better health in turn creates a virtuous circle – those in very good health perform better across our entire index.”
