A peer-reviewed study of 1,420 UK householders found housing circumstances can “get under the skin” with significant consequences for health, said academics at the University of Essex and the University of Adelaide.
Their findings, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, found falling repeatedly into arrears and exposure to pollution were also linked to faster biological ageing – the cumulative damage to the body’s tissues and cells, irrespective of actual age.
The study tracked a process called methylation in people who are part of the ongoing UK Household Longitudinal Survey. Methylation is regarded as a fundamental mechanism that drives human ageing.
Aaccording to researchers who tested DNA and found the tenure, living in a privately rented home is linked to more rapid biological ageing. In fact, it is associated with twice the ageing effect of obesity and half that of smoking.
About 5m households live in privately rented accommodation in the UK – a figure that has doubled in the last 20 years. Costs are higher, conditions are worse and tenure is more precarious than in owner-occupied housing or socially rented housing.
The study concluded: “Our finding that tenure is associated with faster ageing at nearly half the rate of that associated with current smoking and twice that with obesity suggests that our results may have clinical significance.
“Policies to reduce the stress and uncertainty associated with private renting, such as ending no-fault evictions, limiting rent increases and improving conditions, may go some way to reducing the negative impacts.”
The impact of renting in the private sector, as opposed to outright ownership, was almost double that of being out of work rather than being employed.
As an observational study, the research was not able to determine what is causing the link between housing tenure and biological ageing, and the DNA samples analysed so far were only from white, European householders.
However, the authors state that the process is reversible and “improving or changing the conditions for people with faster biological ageing can correct this”.
By contrast, the study found that despite the stigmatisation associated with social renting, it was not found to differ from outright ownership in terms of association with biological ageing. Social renting is typically lower cost and offers greater security of tenure than private renting. The authors stressed that the DNA methylation-derived measures are relatively new and more data will be collected to assess how biological ageing markers change over time.
Dan Wilson Craw, the deputy chief executive of the campaign group Generation Rent, told the press: “Our home is so important to our health. Uncertainty about how long we can live somewhere is stressful, while disrepair and damp conditions make us physically ill. Private renters, who face the threat of arbitrary eviction and live in the worst quality housing, are particularly vulnerable to poor health as a result. As more older people have no option but to rent, policymakers need to act urgently.”
Not surprising, nearly all who rent long term are doing so out of personal circumstances related to finance. For some tenants it is a locked-in life time debt with very little hope of ever getting out. Others take advantage while they can, know exactly what they are doing from day one.
PRS was never intended to be social housing provider but political failures for over 3 decades creeped into the industry. Successive governments of ‘all parties’ encouraged landlords to provide housing and many an incentive to entice landlords, for some (many) to later regret. We have reached the point that due to neglect by all governments, they cannot cope with the demand for housing which is at bursting point in both SHS and PRS.
SHS don’t want PRS tenants back, period. They want them to stay in PRS which is and has always been intended to be a short term roof over your head. Local families that struggle to make ends meet every week and month endure stress which is pitiful to watch. ‘Think Tanks’ and political pressure groups/charities realise that these tenants should not be where they are living but doing their best they can to keep them there……….. a life sentence of worry! Things like Renters Reform Bill (isn’t called Housing or Landlords reform!!!) is actually more to do with nationalising PRS.
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