Housing

The importance of housing

Occupational therapists understand that the physical environment can be both enabling and disabling. A person’s home can have a significant impact upon their ability to participate in the occupations that matter to them, for example:

Self care – attending to personal hygiene, such as using the toilet and washing; domestic tasks such as cooking, cleaning and doing laundry

Productivity – accessing the community, employment, and carrying out care-giving responsibilities

Leisure – participating in activities in and outside of the home that bring enjoyment

Unsuitable and unsupportive housing creates barriers to participation that can result in loss of independence and reduced physical and mental health. Occupational therapists work with people experiencing challenges in their home to identify solutions that reduce or remove these barriers:

• Providing equipment that helps to reduce risks and makes activities easier to complete
• Recommending physical and structural adaptations that make the facilities in the home safer, more supportive and easier to access
• Supporting people to move to a home which is more suitable for their needs
• Ensuring that new homes are designed with good levels of accessibility so that they are suitable for a wide range of people

The built environment is an important social determinant of health. Housing is also known to be a cause of significant health inequalities. While some occupational therapists specialise in housing interventions, all occupational therapists should recognise how the home environment might be enabling or disabling the people they work with, and consider their role in addressing this.