The health impacts of housing-led regeneration: a prospective controlled study.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate self-reported changes in housing quality and health associated with housing-led area regeneration.


METHODS
A prospective study over 1 year using structured interviews with 50 households who moved to new housing and with 50 matched controls who did not move.


METHODS
Residents of two social rented housing schemes in the West of Scotland.


RESULTS
Small but not statistically significant increases in levels of "excellent" or "good" self-reported health status were found in both groups. Both intervention and control groups experienced reductions in problems related to warmth, but no significant change in how they felt about their house.


CONCLUSIONS
It is feasible to conduct prospective controlled studies to evaluate the health effects of housing improvement using matched control groups. The absence of marked improvement in health after moving to new housing might be due to the small sample size or to the limited potential to improve health through this intervention alone.
Thomson
Hilary
H
MRC Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow, 4 Lilybank Gardens, Glasgow G12 8RZ, UK. hilary@msoc.mrc.gla.ac.uk
Morrison
David
D
Petticrew
Mark
M
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006361:Heating; D006798:Housing / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012606:Scotland; D014506:Urban Renewal / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*