Housing quality and overcrowding

The link between poor quality housing and health and wellbeing means that housing quality is an important health inequalities issue. In particular, cold and damp housing is associated with respiratory conditions and poor mental health and wellbeing. There is an ongoing need to raise and maintain the quality of existing housing across all tenures.

The Scottish Housing Quality Standard

Housing quality in Scotland is measured using the Scottish Housing Quality Standard (SHQS). The standard requires social landlords to ensure their tenant’s homes are energy efficient, safe, and secure; not seriously damaged; and have kitchens and bathrooms that are in good condition. Only social sector landlords are obliged to meet the SHQS, but the Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS) collects data for all sectors for comparison purposes. Chart 1 shows that a large proportion of dwellings across all tenures (and more than half of private rented dwellings) did not meet this standard in 2022. Households in the lowest income quintile are more likely to be living in housing that fails to meet the SHQS than those in the highest income quintile (51% compared with 32% in 2015; JRF analysis, 2017).

The Tolerable Standard

The Scottish Government also sets a ‘condemnatory’ standard called the Tolerable Standard: it is not reasonable to expect people to continue to live in a house that does not meet this standard. Since 2014 the SHCS has found that 2% or fewer dwellings were falling below the Tolerable Standard each year. However, recent additional criteria relating to the presence of smoke, heat and carbon monoxide alarms increased the proportion failing the standard to 29% in 2022.

The Living Home Standard

The charity Shelter developed a broader Living Home Standard, which encompassed five dimensions: affordability, decent conditions, space, stability, and neighbourhood. Shelter Scotland’s survey in 2018 found that 34% of people in Scotland lived in homes that do not meet the Living Home Standard.

Overcrowding 

Overcrowding relates to both affordability and quality of housing. There are marked inequalities in overcrowding (and in fact, it is one of the variables that comprise the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation). It can affect physical health, mental health and educational outcomes through several interrelated routes.

The Housing (Overcrowding) Bill 2003 defined the bedroom standard that is used to assess overcrowding (see SHCS Technical and Methodological notes). In 2022, 70,000 Scottish households (3%) were defined as overcrowded according to the bedroom standard. Chart 2 shows that households in Local Authority social rented accommodation are most likely to be overcrowded according to this definition.