Think Housing First is the Housing Health Inequalities document for Kent.
In March 1840, the Government was so concerned about sanitation and living conditions that it set up a Parliamentary Health Select Committee to report on the Health of Towns. Its findings revealed the scale of overcrowding, and the descriptions from health specialists drew a vivid picture of the extreme filth and disease that resulted in widespread death.
The links between health and housing remain very real today and it was for this reason that the Kent Joint Policy and Planning Board (Housing) (JPPB) was instigated, to better promote a strategic partnership between health, housing and social care.
Together with the Kent Housing Group, the JPPB was pleased to be invited by its health partners to develop this action plan, which focuses on how the housing sector can play its part in reducing health inequalities in Kent.
Housing colleagues are central to many health improvement issues including preventing falls, linking homeless households to GP services, the provision of accessible and safe green spaces and play areas and preventing unnecessary hospital admissions.
Think Housing First reflects the important role that housing has in the lives of the people of Kent and illustrates the breadth and range of initiatives that can be delivered across the public and private sector to play a part in reducing health inequalities.