Healthy housing: the role of the Environmental Health officer

The relationship of health and housing has been well documented. There is less said about action that can be taken to deal with poor housing conditions. Environmental Health Officers in UK Government are key actors enforcing legislation relevant to housing conditions. Despite a century of legislative intervention in private sector housing conditions, the English House Condition Survey continues to report an excessive amount of poor conditions, and a particular decline in quality amongst the most disadvantaged in society who are increasingly accommodated in the private rented sector. This paper examines the role of poor housing in ill health and the difficulties faced in enforcing largely reactive legislative, arguing that wider changes are needed if the link between poor health and housing is to be broken.