HEG partners in study seeking to address dietary inequalities for people living in social housing

A major study aiming to address dietary inequalities and improve the life chances of people living in social housing in Liverpool has been funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

Led by the University of Liverpool with many partner organisations from the public and third sectors, including Health Equalities Group, the Supporting Communities in social Housing and Optimising Urban food System interventions for Equity (SCHOUSE) project seeks to better understand the reasons behind difficulties social housing tenants face in consuming a healthy diet and accessing affordable healthy foods.

Study lead Professor Charlotte Hardman from the Department of Psychology said:

“People who live in social housing can face difficulties in accessing healthy diets and often struggle to afford to eat and need to access food banks.

“This is partly because of material disadvantages faced, such as lower incomes or lack of good quality employment opportunities. But it may also be because the places they live offer fewer opportunities to buy affordable fresh healthy foods. Poor diet and ill-health are strongly linked, and people in social housing are more likely to have diet-related health conditions.”

The SCHOUSE study seeks to better understand the reasons behind these issues, why they exist and what can be done about them to improve the life chances of people living in social housing.

Its activities will predominantly focus on the Liverpool area, which has some of the most deprived areas and highest rates of obesity in the UK.

The researchers will investigate the factors leading to people in social housing potentially having poorer diets, looking at how a range of issues affect people and the places they live in, and mapping the features of places relating to food access and diet in Liverpool into an interactive tool to better target future interventions.

In partnership with three major social housing associations in Liverpool, Onward Homes, Riverside Group and Torus Foundation, the project will deliver, test and evaluate two interventions aimed at helping residents of social housing to access affordable healthy foods – use of a mobile greengrocer van (Queen of Greens) and provision of Alexandra Rose vouchers for purchasing fruit and vegetables at the mobile greengrocer. Residents from housing associations involved in the project will be pivotal in the co-design process for the study’s interventions.

The research team will then forecast the short- and long-term health impacts of these interventions, using a computer model to predict the number of cases of diseases and deaths that could be averted by expanding the interventions to the whole of Liverpool and more widely across England.

Matthew Philpott, Executive Director of Health Equalities Group said:

“We are thrilled to be working again with researchers from University of Liverpool and a wide range of public and third sector agencies within Liverpool on delivery of this piece of ground-breaking research.

“As a charity working to address non-communicable diseases and health inequalities in Liverpool for the last 20 years, we are really pleased to see this innovative piece of cross-sector research being funded by UKRI, in particular the involvement of three local housing associations, and their tenants, in the co-development and implementation of this research.

“This research will supplement work we are already delivering with partners from housing associations in Cheshire & Merseyside to address food insecurity and diet-related illness, and we look forward to assisting with the delivery of co-development workshops and sharing the findings from this project with policy makers at local, regional and national levels”.

The project has been awarded £1.46 million from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) as part of its work to create opportunities and improve outcomes.

Project lead: University of Liverpool, Institute of Population Health

Project partners: Alchemic Kitchen/Foodrise, Alexandra Rose Charity, Feeding Liverpool, Health Equalities Group, Liverpool City Council, NHS Cheshire and Merseyside, Onward Homes, Riverside Group and Torus Foundation.