Clarion’s Clare Miller: Government should combine housing and health in one government ministry

The likely next prime minister Andy Burnham, arriving at a time of national ‘rewiring’, has a golden opportunity to change our perception of housing in this country – from bricks and mortar to crucial health infrastructure that has an unrivalled impact on the nation’s well-being.

This should start with the integration of health and housing under one government ministry.

We know that the social and environmental determinants of health drive around 80% of health outcomes, and of these key determinants housing is foundational.

A safe, warm home in a well-connected, resilient community is a direct contributor to positive physical and mental health outcomes, and the price of our national failure to provide enough homes of this standard is paid directly by the NHS.

Last month, a report by the Royal College of Occupational Therapists found that poor housing costs the NHS in England £1.5bn annually.

A combined health and housing agenda would allow for more targeted health interventions in our housing, a streamlined process for the adaptation of homes for those with complex needs, and a combined funding strategy that prioritises affordable housebuilding as a critical investment in our national health.

All this has the potential to reduce hospital admissions, ease the budgets of local authorities spending millions on temporary accommodation, and give families up and down the country a healthy foundation to get on in life.

In Clarion’s Five New Giants of Opportunity report, published in November 2025, the five giants of connection, resilience, sufficiency, trust and health provide a framework for a new social contract for housing that aligns it with climate action, better health, fairer use of technology and inclusive economic opportunity to improve quality of life nationwide.

“If housing is one of the greatest determinants of health, we should stop treating it as a separate policy challenge”

Crucially, it also reframes the home as not just a foundation for life, but preventative medicine.

With the current NHS focus shifting to neighbourhood health, and the potential for a roll-out of a Housing First policy nationwide, the report also offers a timely vision for a more joined-up relationship between housing and health professionals.

This year Clarion has convened several roundtables with leaders across the NHS, local government, academia and social care, as well as members of parliament, to learn and discuss what this could look like, where the opportunities lie and how current pilots could scale.

If housing is one of the greatest determinants of health, we should stop treating it as a separate policy challenge. The NHS was founded on the belief that the conditions in which people live shape the health they enjoy. The government’s agenda should be organised accordingly.

Clare Miller, chief executive, Clarion