Fit for the future? A role for health professionals in housing management

The institutions of the welfare state have traditionally catered to some health needs through housing interventions. A key strategy has been to award people with health problems and mobility difficulties priority access to council rented homes. Medical rehousing has required input from both housing managers and health professionals, especially public health physicians. This paper draws on a postal survey of health advisers to English housing departments to analyse the form, and consider the future, of this approach to housing for health.