PHS welcomes the Scottish Government's Housing to 2040 strategy

This week, the Scottish Government published Housing to 2040, Scotland’s first ever long-term national housing strategy. This strategy sets out a route map for how, by 2040, everyone will have a safe, high-quality home that is affordable and meets their needs in the place they want to be.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) welcomes the commitments in Housing to 2040 which sets out how housing will be pivotal to our recovery from COVID-19 and tackling persistent inequalities across Scotland.  In particular, we welcome that implementation of the route map will be guided by principles of social justice, equality and human rights. 

Katrina Reid, Health Improvement Manager - Health and Housing for PHS, said:

“The right to adequate housing is intrinsically linked to the right to health with accessible, affordable, good quality housing in vibrant communities providing the foundations for health and wellbeing.  This new national strategy provides an opportunity to ensure that everyone has access to housing which meets their needs, is a safe place to call home and plays a key role in our recovery from COVID-19.

“Housing has an important influence on our health and wellbeing.  The affordability of homes; the quality of our homes, including indoor and outdoor space; the accessibility of homes and the role of the home as a platform for inclusion in community life are all fundamental to health and wellbeing.  We welcome the aspiration of this strategy for a housing system that addresses current challenges of unmet housing need, poverty and inequality, our ageing population, homelessness, social isolation and the climate emergency. 

“Working with partners, we look forward to supporting the implementation of Housing to 2040 and the positive contribution that it will have on improving health and tackling health inequalities in Scotland”.

PHS has contributed to the Equalities Position Statement which sits alongside this strategy.  This position statement sets out available evidence across the wide range of policy areas related to Housing to 2040, including health. The evidence sets a framework for the development of future impact assessments of the actions set out in this route map.  In Spring 2021, PHS will publish a comprehensive evidence briefing paper to further support the development of policy intentions set out in this route map. For more information please contact phs.housingandhealth@phs.scot.

For more information, read Housing to 2040 (external website) and the Equalities Position Statement (external website).