Resident Review: Assessing the impact of new homes on people’s health and wellbeing
Originally published by Perspectives in Public Health, 31 March 2023
By Matthew Morgan and Hani Salih
Introduction
There is little doubt that there is a housing crisis in the UK, [1] the many different aspects of which impact on people’s health and wellbeing. Housing insecurity is rising. Wages are failing to keep up with soaring house prices, [2] and this is compounded by the current cost of living crisis. Furthermore, health inequalities have widened, with people living in areas of higher deprivation experiencing worse health outcomes than those in more affluent areas. [3]
In contrast, the Quality of Life Foundation holds a vision of a housing system that improves people’s quality of life over the long term. We aim to achieve this by making health and wellbeing central to the way we create and care for our homes and communities. We gather robust evidence, grounded in research and people’s lived experience, to weave greater accountability into the housing system and to encourage long-term models of development.
Crucial to our work is giving residents and communities a greater sense of control in their local area. A greater sense of control over our local environment is associated with healthier behaviours, greater wellbeing and increased social connectedness. [4]
That is why we developed Resident Review service – a post-occupancy evaluation survey that provides organisations with resident-led feedback about people’s lived experiences in their homes and neighbourhoods. Crucially, it measures people’s responses in relation to their quality of life in a place, not simply their satisfaction with the bricks and mortar of their homes.
Evidence-based framework
Our work began with research carried out with Publica, Social Life and Kaizen Partnership, to find out what affects people’s quality of life. We used this evidence to build the Quality of Life Framework with URBED to demonstrate how improvements to our homes and communities can improve our health and wellbeing. The Framework is arranged under six themes: control, health, nature, wonder, movement, and community.
To measure people’s quality of life, the Resident Review survey gathers quantitative and qualitative data that is organised through the Framework.