We are delighted to announce this year's Barnett Prize winner, Neftalem Emanuel, for his outstanding contribution to evidence-based social intervention and policy evaluation.
The annual Barnett Prize is awarded to the best paper submitted by a research student for the academic year. Neftalem’s paper, ‘Damp Places, Unhappy Faces: Analysing the Impact of Housing Repairs and Maintenance Expenditure on Local Authority Residents Wellbeing in England between 2013-2022’, examines the relationship between housing and wellbeing using the ‘Understanding Society’ dataset.
In the context of significant cuts to public spending in post-austerity Britain, this study focuses on the implications for local authority housing and helps policymakers understand how investment in housing repairs and maintenance impacts its tenants’ mental and physical wellbeing.
Key findings and recommendations include:
- There is a strong positive association between repairs and maintenance expenditure and mental wellbeing, both in the immediate term and with a one-year lag for tenants in ‘inadequate’ housing. Those in ‘inadequate’ homes show more sensitivity to repairs and maintenance spending than those in already well-maintained homes.
- There is no statistically significant association between repairs and maintenance spending and physical wellbeing in the short-term. However, the analysis does indicate improvements in physical health may emerge over a longer period of time for those that live in both ‘adequate’ and ‘inadequate’ homes.
- In the context of limited local authority budgets, sustained funding from central government is essential to enable local authorities to tackle repair backlogs and proactively manage their housing stock.
- Policymakers should prioritise repairs and maintenance spending in the worst-condition homes, as this is where investment delivers the most significant mental and, potentially, physical health benefits.
- Preventative interventions are critical. Addressing housing-related health inequalities should form a core component of public health planning to, not least, improve homes classed as ‘inadequate’ but also reduce pressures on the NHS by mitigating costs related to poor housing.
“This study provides robust evidence of the effects of (dis-)investment in local authority housing,” commented Neftalem Emanuel, DPhil student in Social Intervention and Policy Evaluation. “By being aware of this relationship between spending, housing quality and wellbeing, policymakers can target their investment in local authority properties to ensure equitable and sustainable living conditions for those that live there.”
