The Knowsley Health and Wellbeing Board focussed on the link between housing and health at the latest meeting on Tuesday 14 September.
A presentation was delivered which provided an overview of the links between housing and health, focussing on the impact of poor housing conditions and the current work being undertaken to support residents. The presentation had contributions from a number of Council services, including public health, environmental health and strategic housing and partners, Livv Housing.
At the meeting, board members agreed to work together to tackle poor housing conditions across the borough, as well as helping to raise awareness of the help and support that is available to residents.
This includes the range of grants and initiatives that are available to residents to help with heating their homes efficiently, and exploring the expansion of a respiratory disease programme to identify high risk residents and provide additional housing support. In addition, the Board are looking to provide damp and mould training to frontline and community workers to enable them to identify issues and to provide advice and support to residents which can address this issue.
Residents may be eligible to benefit from the Council’s Warm Homes Scheme, providing heating and boiler upgrades to help vulnerable residents to stay warm, safe and healthy this winter. Further details are available on Knowsley News.
Residents can also access a range of information on housing support, including details on social housing, home improvement grants and other schemes, via the Knowsley Offer https://www.knowsleybettertogether.co.uk/theoffer/housing/
Cllr Frank Walsh, Chairperson of The Knowsley Health and Wellbeing Board, said: “Poor quality housing conditions can have a huge impact on our residents’ health and as a board, we have collectively agreed that by improving housing, we can improve health and wellbeing outcomes.
“It’s important that residents know that help and support is available to them through a range of partners across the Borough, who are a
The Knowsley Health and Wellbeing Board is made up of representatives from Knowsley Council, NHS, Healthwatch Knowsley, Knowsley Engagement Forum, Knowsley Youth Service and the Community and Voluntary Sector.
The full meeting agenda can be found here.