Children and families in poverty in Wales are continuing to live in unhealthy homes and it is having a negative impact on their health, development, education, well-being and life chances. Through continued engagement with stakeholders and informed by lived experience, Public Health Wales has outlined four enabling priorities to shape a healthier housing future for Wales. 

A new report from Public Health Wales – A place to thrive: creating healthier homes for children and families in poverty across Wales – highlights the lived experience of people whose homes are affecting their health and well-being. 

Public Health Wales says that the engagement with families, along with stakeholders in the sector, has helped to identify and refine four areas for action to help shape a healthier future for housing in Wales.  These areas are to: 

• Embed health and well-being in a Welsh Housing and Regeneration Strategy 
• Involve those affected by housing policy in its development, especially families living in poverty 
• Work across sectors and share data to provide joined-up support and focus on prevention 
• Learn from the application of Health Impact Assessments (HIAs) 

Housing is one of the fundamental building blocks for a healthy life, and all aspects of our homes and where we live affect our physical and mental health and well-being. When children and families are living in homes that are cold, damp, and overcrowded, for example, or that are straining family finances, we see harms to health such as breathing problems, stress, and more illnesses.  

Within the priority areas above, Public Health Wales identified practical solutions that policymakers, stakeholders and partners across sectors can put in place to improve housing for children and families in poverty. 

These include increasing the availability of healthy and affordable homes, especially social housing, raising standards in private rental housing and prioritising early intervention and prevention in the sector by working with families and communities to design place-based integrated services.