Impacts of Housing and Environment on the Community

Abstract

Housing and living environment are the keys to health and wellness. To promote population health, these social determinants shall not be neglected, especially when humans are facing challenges due to globalisation, demographic and climate change. To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular SDG 3 (health and wellbeing) and SDG 11 (healthy cities), improving and safeguarding housing shall be considered essential for primary healthcare. The major perspectives for the impacts of housing on health are residential instability, affordability, safety and quality of housing, and neighbourhood, which will allow for efforts and resources to be deployed wisely. Moreover, holistic and effective policies and practices help to facilitate the promotion of population health through improving the living environment. Due to the complexity and wide-ranging implications of the issues, building a sustainable and healthy community requires holistic interventions in a multidisciplinary approach. This chapter will explore the impact of living environment and housing on the health of the community with reference to primary healthcare, and provide suggestions for improving the living environment and housing.