Why housing is important to achieving sustainable development

There are many important factors including:

• Housing is a basic human need - its quality, cost and availability are crucial to individuals’ quality of life.
• Well-designed and maintained housing will help support a sense of community just as run-down housing will tend to erode it.
• The location, planning, layout and design of housing make an important contribution to community spirit and identity, which are significant components of the social dimension of sustainable development.
• The interrelationship between housing, health and well-being, educational access and attainment, and access to employment have all been well documented for examples see The bIGPicture: Health and Housing.
• The position of houses, the materials which they are made of, the uses their occupants make of such resources as energy and water, and the availability of public transport/alternative forms of transport all have major environmental implications.
• Many housing association residents suffer from social exclusion and can be benefit dependent. They are a key target group for many of government policies including social inclusion, eliminating child poverty, decent homes, employment generation, addressing fuel poverty, health and education improvement.
• 70 of the 147 national sustainable development indicators, and many of the regional and local indicators, can be linked to housing and community issues.
• With nearly 2 million homes already, and continued significant projected growth through building and stock transfer, housing associations have a major role to play in helping achieve a sustainable future.