Despite extensive evidence linking housing with adult health, and increasingly well-being, there has been comparatively little attention given to the influences of housing on child health and well-being. What evidence there is tends to focus on concerns around behavioural issues or educational attainment (Clair, 2019). However, housing will likely have important influences on children in much broader areas. Research has demonstrated that children are aware of and affected by family financial difficulties, for example. Problems caused by poor housing affordability and insecurity also likely affect carer relationships with children, while exposure to poor quality and unsuitable housing will affect child health as it does for adults. New research led by MiSoC researcher Amy Clair will use data from the Millennium Cohort Study and Understanding Society to explore children’s housing experiences in detail, including a range of housing experiences covering housing affordability, quality, and security. It will describe children’s housing trajectories, exposure to unhealthy and insecure housing, and how this affects their contemporary and long-term outcomes relating to subjective well-being, educational experiences, and health – both mental and physical.
