El impacto de la crisis en la relación entre vivienda y salud. Políticas de buenas prácticas para reducir las desigualdades en salud asociadas con las condiciones de vivienda

Abstract

Housing conditions can impact on physical and mental health through 4 interrelated dimensions: 1) the home (the emotional housing conditions), 2) the physical housing conditions, and 3) the physical environment, and 4) the social (community) environment of the neighborhood where the house is located. In Spain, the use of the construction market as an engine for economic growth and the promotion of private property as the main type of housing tenure has led to the use of housing as a speculative good instead of its being considered a first-necessity good. While Spain is the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) country with the largest housing stock per inhabitant, this stock is highly underutilized, thus excluding the most deprived sector of the population from access to housing. The impact of the current economic crisis on housing has mainly been due to a reduction in household income, which has increased the number of families or persons struggling to cover their housing costs or being evicted. Evidence indicates that this type of problem has a negative impact on health, especially on mental health, but financial problems also make it difficult to meet other basic needs such as eating. There are several instruments to reduce the impact of the economic crisis, such as debt financing or deed of assignment in payment. In the long-term, the creation of a social housing stock should be promoted, as well as rental assistance mechanisms.

How substandard dwellings and housing affordability problems are associated with poor health in a vulnerable population during the economic recession of the late 2000s

“…The housing variables included different aspects of the following 4 dimensions: affordability, emotional link with the dwelling, dwelling conditions and neighbourhood and community conditions (see variables in Table 2 ) [ 1 ]. To measure the participant’s emotional link to the dwelling, a composite score (Cronbach’s Alpha of 0.82) was created by averaging the 5-point Likert-scale responses to questions regarding the resident’s overall satisfaction with the dwelling, satisfaction with the dwelling’s space, satisfaction with the dwelling’s views, the belief that others would be happy with this dwelling, the sense of security felt in the dwelling, and whether the dwelling expresses his/her personality and values.…”

“…Housing conditions impact health through a variety of interrelated mechanisms including the emotional link with the dwelling, housing affordability, physical dwelling conditions, and the physical and social (community) environment of the neighbourhood where the dwelling is located [ 1 , 2 ]. Failings in any of these dimensions of housing can negatively impact the health of a home’s occupants.…”

“…While Spain is the OECD country with the largest housing stock per inhabitant, it is highly underutilized (14 % unoccupied and 16 % used as second home) despite its increasing homeless population. In addition, social housing only represents between 1 % and 2 % of housing stock (one of the lowest in the European Union-EU-), and budget for rental assistance programmes is also among the lowest in the EU) [ 1 , 17 , 18 ]. The impact of the economic crisis on access to adequate housing in Spain has been mainly due to the reduction of household income, leading to difficulties in paying housing-related costs and, potentially, to the loss of the dwelling.…”

Crisis de la vivienda, movimientos sociales y empoderamiento: una revisión sistemática de la literatura

“…También se apunta que hace falta una combinación de leyes para el derecho al trabajo, una reconfiguración del espacio público y la creación de asociaciones independientes para defender sus derechos (Brown et al, 2015). En el análisis de la evolución de la situación habitacional en España se recalca que se podrían mitigar los desahucios con la dación en pago, con un parque adecuado de vivienda social y con ayudas para pagar el alquiler (Novoa et al, 2014). Se enfatiza que, con respecto a los desahucios, la visión de los medios de comunicación tradicionales ha sido la hegemónica, pero, en contrapartida, se apunta a que, a través de las redes sociales como el Twitter, se ha incidido en la población desde otro punto de vista más popular y cercano al afectado (Pérez et al, 2013).…”

Análisis de la política de vivienda en Bogotá: un enfoque desde la oferta y la demanda

“…Así, se abordarán temas como la relación entre vivienda y la salud física y mental de sus habitantes, vivienda y desigualdad económica, entre otros. Novoa et al (2014) presentan un análisis descriptivo acerca del impacto que tiene la crisis económica sobre las condiciones de vivienda en la salud de los habitantes, tanto física como mental. Este impacto se lleva a cabo a través de cuatro dimensiones identificadas por la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) y justificadas por los autores: el hogar, las condiciones físicas de la vivienda, el entorno físico y el entorno social.…”