Children who have to endure bad housing are more likely to suffer health problems, experience bullying and struggle to keep up with homework, according to a new report co-authored by Shelter and the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen).

The report is based on analysis of data collected during the Families and Children Study (FACS) between 2001 and 2005. The study is an ongoing NatCen project. Researchers collect information annually on family health, education, work, income, child care and well-being.

The families involved are representative of the total UK population and the information they impart is used by several government departments, including the Department for Children, Schools and Families to plan and review public policy.

In this instance, researchers analyzed the FACS data on behalf of Shelter and the Eaga Partnership Charitable Trust. Three main types of bad housing were examined:

• overcrowded accommodation, taking into account the number of rooms and the size and composition of the family; one in eight of the children in the study were living long-term in such conditions
• housing in a poor state of repair, with three or more maintenance problems, such as rising damp, general rot and decay and draughts; six per cent of children were persistently affected by these shortcomings.
• inadequately-heated accommodation; four per cent of the sample did not have the means to keep themselves warm in winter.

Analyzing the data across the four years (between 2001 and 2005) showed the persistence of the problems. Almost a quarter (24%) of all children – from a sample representative of the UK population as a whole – experienced overcrowding at some point during the five-year period.

“Even when taking into account other factors that could cause poor living standards for children, such as poverty… bad housing meant children were more likely to face a number of other negative outcomes,” says Matt Barnes and colleagues who prepared the report.

For example, children who lived in accommodation in a bad state of repair for several years were more likely to experience chest or breathing problems, bullying at school, unhappiness and to wind up in trouble with the police.

Barnes and his colleagues argue that housing issues are often neglected or overlooked in child welfare policy making policies. Improving the quality of housing provision might lead to improvements in many different dimensions of children’s lives.

• Summary of Barnes M, Butt S and Tomaszewski W (2008) The Dynamics of Bad Housing: The impact of bad housing on the living standards of children, Natcen.