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Executive summary

Various evaluations of the 2001–2010 Decent Homes programme have been undertaken, but none so far has been able to quantify the benefits to the health of the people who live in the properties. This report summarises the results of a research project commissioned by BRE Trust to quantify to what extent the improvements to social housing arising from the Decent Homes programme have reduced costs to the National Health Service (NHS) in treating housing-related injuries and illnesses. It uses the same basic methodology developed to calculate the costs of poor housing in England as described in The real cost of poor housing (Roys et al, 2010) and summarised in BRE Information Paper 16/10: Quantifying the Costs of Poor Housing (Nicol et al, 2010). However, the research reported in this publication also encompasses additional health risks and considers the impact of less serious, but still significant levels, of Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) hazards among social sector homes.