It’s sometimes hard to imagine what issues like the ones we’ve mentioned mean for people in reality – especially with a subject as complicated as housing. That’s why we spoke to Kirsty (not her real name) about her experience.

Kirsty was due to be discharged after a lengthy stay in hospital but she didn’t have anywhere to stay. She wasn't offered much help with her housing situation while in hospital and the uncertainty had a negative impact on her mental health. When she asked her local council for help, she felt that her experiences were not taken seriously by housing staff who had little mental health expertise.

“They are interrogating you so extremely that, you know, you can see that they’re testing you to see if you’re lying… They don’t really care about your mental health. They just want to tick their boxes. They probably don’t know that much about it… I did leave there and have a massive panic attack because I was just like, ‘They’re not going to give me anything.’ Thank God, it all went through okay, but yes, it wasn’t a pleasant experience.”

After frequent moves, including periods of hospitalization, Kirsty felt that moving into stable social accommodation made a big difference to her recovery.

I wake up in the morning, and I’m like, ‘Oh, what is this feeling that I’ve got? Oh, it’s happiness.’ It doesn’t last that long, but it’s, like, so nice to actually wake up in the morning and actually experience feeling good for the first time in years.

In late 2017 we published a report: ‘Brick by brick: A review of mental health and housing’. Brick by brick tells the stories of people like 'Dan' who felt he had to hide his mental health problems to secure somewhere to live, 'Crystal' who was assessed for priority housing by someone with no understanding of mental health, and 'Amy' who's constantly afraid that benefits changes will mean she loses her home. 

Brick by brick paints a stark picture of the severity of the housing issues facing people with mental health problems: from cold, damp, poor quality homes, unscrupulous landlords, and housing professionals holding outdated stigmatising beliefs about people with mental health problems, to the challenges posed by housing association processes, the prevalence of unfair evictions, and the rising costs of housing across the board. 

Key statistics:

- One in four tenants with mental health problems has serious rent arrears and is at risk of losing their home

- People with a mental health condition are four times more likely to report that poor housing has made their health worse

Read Brick by brick.