As the boundaries between health, social care and housing continue to blur, the importance of truly integrated approaches has never been clearer. For the NHS and care providers seeking improved outcomes and better demand management, housing associations represent a potential essential partner in the system.
Across the country, housing associations are no longer functioning merely as landlords. They act as community anchors, supporting people to live well and independently in their own homes for longer. Increasingly, they deliver or coordinate services that help prevent hospital admissions, reduce delayed discharges and improve the overall quality of life for residents and local communities alike.
Homes as the Foundation of Health
It is widely recognised that the home environment is one of the biggest determinants of health and wellbeing. Poor housing conditions contribute to physical and mental ill health, while safe, warm and accessible homes provide the stability people need to recover, manage long-term conditions and stay connected to their communities.
The book ‘Health Is Made at Home, Hospitals Are for Repairs’ argues that much of what keeps us healthy happens outside hospitals: in homes, schools, workplaces and communities. Hospitals, the author suggests, are largely for “repairs”: responding when things go wrong rather than building the conditions in which people stay well. This perspective aligns powerfully with the role of housing associations, whose services help create the conditions for health rather than simply responding to illness.
Housing associations are already investing in digital solutions, home adaptations and proactive support that deliver measurable health outcomes. Digital helplines, telecare and emergency response services provide 24/7 reassurance and fast access to help when residents need it most. These services, delivered by colleagues embedded within local communities, integrate directly with health and social care systems, creating seamless pathways from home to hospital and back again.
Working Together: Opportunities for Integration
There are clear opportunities for the NHS and local authorities to work more closely with housing providers to achieve shared objectives. For example:
- Early intervention and prevention: joint referral routes for frailty, falls or welfare checks can prevent crises before they occur.
- Hospital discharge and step-down services: housing associations can provide short-term accommodation and wraparound support, reducing pressure on acute beds.
- Digital care and monitoring: housing-led services can extend the reach of telehealth and remote monitoring, particularly for residents living alone or managing multiple conditions.
- Community resilience and wellbeing: housing associations have deep relationships with residents and community networks that can help tackle isolation, promote wellbeing and deliver targeted health campaigns.
The idea of “health creators,” introduced by Nigel Crisp, reinforces this. Individuals, communities and organisations outside the formal health system all play a role in keeping people well. Housing associations are ideally placed to act as those health creators in partnership with local care and health providers.
Ensuring Professional Standards and Resident-Centred Services
From a housing association perspective, it is also important to recognise the evolving regulatory and professional landscape. The new Competence and Conduct Standard introduces a framework to ensure that colleagues working in social housing have the skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours to deliver high-quality, respectful services.
For integrated care partners, this matters. It means housing services you partner with are increasingly held to the same professional expectations as other frontline services. When accommodation support, emergency response teams or digital helpline functions are delivered by housing associations, you can be confident they are aligning with regulatory ambitions for competency and conduct, promoting better outcomes for residents and services alike.
Building the Next Phase of Integration
To unlock the full potential of housing in integrated care, closer collaboration is needed at the system level. Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) and place-based partnerships have an opportunity to bring housing providers into strategic planning conversations, recognising them as equal partners in delivering population health outcomes.
Joint commissioning, shared data frameworks and co-designed service models can ensure housing-led services complement statutory provision rather than simply sit alongside it. The evidence is clear: when health, care and housing work together, people recover faster, live independently for longer and rely less on emergency and institutional care.
Housing associations stand ready to be part of that solution, offering not only homes but the digital infrastructure, skilled colleagues and community reach that modern integrated care systems need.
By Joe McLoughlin, Executive Leader – Housing, Care & Technology-Enabled Services
Joe McLoughlin Consulting Ltd
