Housing is not only an outcome but also a driver of inequality. Housing shapes economic inequalities: while some pay a large share of their income in rents, others own property that they can use as a vehicle for wealth accumulation. Housing also shapes health inequalities. Living in inadequate, low quality, unaffordable or insecure conditions can have major repercussions for both physical and mental health. Housing is, in other words, an important social determinant of health. Inequalities in housing also interact with inequalities in other life domains, creating cumulative outcomes.

About the speaker

Professor Rebecca Bentley will present her work on housing as a social determinant of health and propose concrete recommendations for priorities for action. Prof. Bentley is professor at the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health (Australia), and Director of the Centre of Research Excellence in Healthy Housing.

Professor Susan Smith will focus on economic inequalities, zooming in on the central role of housing in the current age of “rentier capitalism”. Prof. Smith is honorary Professor Emerita of Geography, as well as Life Fellow and former Mistress (Head) of Girton College, at Cambridge University (UK).