Housing and Family Wellbeing

Researcher: ESRI

Title: Housing, health and happiness: how (in)adequate housing shapes child and parental mental and physical wellbeing

Overview:

This research will examine how transient and/or prolonged experiences of housing (in)adequacy affect the mental and physical wellbeing of parents and their children during a child's early and middle years.

It will explore themes of housing and social inclusion, encompassing the availability and quality of housing, housing conditions/situation, tenure, residential mobility and neighbourhood quality. The research will pursue the following research questions:

• Which families have higher risks of experiencing persistent or transient inadequate housing?
• How does (in)adequate housing and transitions between levels of housing (in)adequacy affect the mental and physical wellbeing of parents?
• What are the pathways through which (in)adequate housing and transitions levels of housing (in)adequacy affect parental wellbeing?
• Can any impacts of (in)adequate housing and transitions between levels of housing (in)adequacy on parents’ social and psychological outcomes explain how it affects children’s wellbeing?

Through this exploration, the project will significantly expand our understanding of how housing situation, communities and residential mobility affect families’ wellbeing, and the pathways through which (in)adequate housing shaped social-emotional lives.

Status: Completed Q2 2024

Outputs: Housing, health and happiness: how inadequate housing shapes child and parental wellbeing