Yeehlow

On May 15th, 2019 the Office for National Statistics (ONS) released an updated version of a report called “Personal and economic well-being: what matters most to our life satisfaction?.”

One of the main claims of the report is that people who own their home, both with and without a mortgage, “rate their life satisfaction more highly than those living in both private and social rented housing.”

Housing tenure is closely related with life satisfaction and, in particular, people living in social housing have 1.25 greater odds of reporting lower levels of overall happiness compared to those who own a property; and 1.22 greater odds that those who rent privately.

People who live in social housing tend to be single (35.7%), report bad health (16,6%) and are over 60 years old (27,1%). Only 42.1% of those living in social housing report being employed, while 83.3% of those who bought with a mortgage or loan are in employment.

The Homes and Wellbeing report released by the University of Birmingham seems to be on the same wavelength with the ONS stating that “the link between housing and wellbeing has long been acknowledged. Common-sense tells us, and the evidence confirms, that poor quality housing significantly diminishes quality of life,” eventually reaching the conclusion that “the consensus holds that ownership is the route to a more general sense of wellbeing, that owners will always be happier and healthier than social renters.”

The Birmingham University’s report states that, when asked “are you satisfied?” only 25,1% of social tenants answered positively, compared with 42,6% of owner-occupiers. Furthermore, while 92,1% of private renters or owners claimed to be healthy, only 68,8% of people in social housing said the same.

Overall, social tenants report they are less happy and less satisfied with their lives compared to those who own their homes. Eventually, the report claims that “social housing solutions could do more to positively lift the wellbeing of tenants in terms of life- satisfaction.”

On the other hand, it is important to clarify that surveys and researches have proved that “there is no necessary link between social housing in childhood and the likelihood of being employed later in life.” This means that people who grew up in social housing are by no means more likely to be unemployed than those who grew in private homes. Unfortunately, while this is true for people who were born in the 1980s or before, things can change when focusing on younger respondents. This is due to a “residualisation process” that took place during the last couple of years, when the UK went through a reduction in the availability of social subsidies causing a consequent concentration of vulnerable people in social housing.

Birmingham University’s findings, however, highlight the point that there is nothing intrinsically ‘wrong’ with social housing, and its data suggests that this housing method does not appear of itself to play a causal role in worklessness or ‘dependency’.