Cumberland Council is committed to putting health and wellbeing at the heart of its business, including ensuring that local housing supports residents’ wellbeing. A home is not just a place to live, but should be a place of comfort, shelter, safety and warmth; a place to raise family and welcome friends; and a basis for all our other daily activities. It is the main setting for our health throughout our lives.

Poor housing conditions can have significant impacts on health and wellbeing. Evidence shows that exposure to damp, cold, mould and overcrowding all have negative effects on physical and mental wellbeing, leading to poorer health outcomes and shorter life expectancy.

Physical health impacts include breathing problems from damp and mould, including conditions like asthma and allergies. Cold temperatures and poor housing conditions can contribute to heart-related health problems. Overcrowding can help spread infectious diseases. Whilst poor housing conditions – like faulty wiring or trip hazards – can increase the risk of accidents and injuries.

Mental health impacts include stress and anxiety, depression and specific effects on children of overcrowding, poorer physical health and behavioural problems.

According to the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health’s toolkit ‘Good Housing Leads to Good Health’, stress is a health issue that can be linked to bullying, school refusal, under performance at school as well as unemployment or absence from work.

Housing is a key social determinant of health, as a factor that influences health outcomes beyond medical care. Access to safe, affordable and decent housing is crucial for overall health and wellbeing.

Ongoing efforts to promote healthy housing, including improving housing quality and affordability are essential for health and wellbeing.

The definition of Affordable Housing is taken from the National Planning Policy framework released in 2024.

Affordable housing: housing for sale or rent, for those whose needs are not met by the market (including housing that provides a subsidised route to home ownership and/or is for the essential local workers); and which complies with one or more of the following definitions:

Social rent: meets all of the following conditions: (a) the rent is set in accordance with the government's rent policy for social rent; (b) the landlord is a registered provider; and (c) it includes provisions to remain at an affordable price for future eligible households, or for the subsidy to be recycled for alternative affordable housing provision.

Other affordable housing for rent: meets all of the following conditions: (a) the rent is set in accordance with the government's rent policy for affordable rent, or is at least 20% below local market rents (including service charges where applicable); (b) the landlord is a registered provider, except where it is included as part of a Build to Rent scheme (in which case the landlord need not be a registered provider); and (c) it includes provisions to remain at an affordable price for future eligible households, or for the subsidy to be recycled for alternative housing provision. For Build to Rent schemes affordable housing for rent is expected to be the normal form of affordable housing provision (and, in this context, is known as affordable private rent).

Discounted market sales housing: is that sold at a discount of at least 20% below local market value. Eligibility is determined with regard to local incomes and local house prices. Provisions should be in place to ensure housing remains at a discount for future eligible households.

Other affordable routes to home ownership: is housing provided for sale that provides a route to ownership for those who could not achieve home ownership through the market. It includes shared ownership, relevant equity loans, other low cost homes for sale (at a price equivalent to at least 20% below local market value) and rent to buy (which includes a period of intermediate rent). Where public grant funding is provided, there should be provisions for the homes to remain at an affordable price for future eligible households, or for any receipts to be recycled for alternative affordable housing provision, or refunded to government or the relevant authority specified in the funding agreement.

Cumberland Council is not a housing developer and the housing team work with planning officers and local developers to make sure that affordable housing of all tenures is provided on new developments. During the first year of the new council (2023 to 2024) 98 affordable homes were built in Cumberland:

Over the last five years, Cumberland Council and its former district councils have delivered many of the Local Authority Delivery schemes established by the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (formerly the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy). Typically, these have been delivered as a Cumbrian Consortium together with Westmorland & Furness Council and its former district councils.

Our aims for these schemes have been to increase Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) ratings and the thermal comfort of housing stock, tackle fuel poverty for low-income households and those in deprived areas, improve the sustainability of existing housing stock, and make progress towards the UK’s 2050 Net Zero targets by reducing carbon emissions and energy use.

The schemes have provided installation of energy efficiency measures and low-carbon heating systems. Common measures have included: cavity and solid wall insulation, loft insulation, solar photovoltaic panels, air source heat pumps and high retention storage heaters.

Beginning in January 2021 to September 2022, the consortium led by the former Eden District Council delivered the £5 million Local Authority Delivery 2 (LAD2), also known as the Green Homes Grant, which seen 402 measures installed in 273 private sector homes in Cumbria; of these there were 254 measures installed in 180 homes in the Cumberland area.

From April 2022 to November 2023, the consortium led by the former Carlisle City Council delivered the £7.6 million Sustainable Warmth Scheme (which combined Local Authority Delivery - LAD3 and Home Upgrade Grant - HUG1). The scheme seen installation of 801 measures in 475 private sector homes across Cumbria; of which there were 438 measures installed in 227 homes in the Cumberland area.

From April 2023, the consortium led by Westmorland & Furness Council delivered the £6 million Home Upgrade Grant 2 (HUG2) scheme, for which delivery ended in March 2025 after installing 240 measures in 131 off-gas grid private sector homes across Cumbria, of which there were 118 measures installed in 66 homes in Cumberland.

In addition to these consortia delivered schemes, from January 2022 to February 2024 the former Allerdale Borough Council delivered the £5.2 million Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund Wave 1 scheme in partnership with housing association Home Group. The funding included £1.2 million awarded to Allerdale Borough Council and £4 million co-funding from Home Group, which delivered 628 measures in 90 socially rented homes.

Since August 2024, Cumberland Council has also been participating in the Ofgem Energy Company Obligation Flex (ECO4 Flex) scheme. During the first 8 months, as of March 2025, this has seen £2.5 million of funding spent on delivering measures to 113 private sector homes across Cumberland. The scheme running until March 2026.

From Q2 2025, a new consortium scheme led by Westmorland & Furness Council will be launched, the Warm Homes Local Grant. This is initially a 3-year scheme, with an allocation of £11.8 million for Cumbria. We aim to deliver measures in 820 private sector homes in Cumbria from 2025 to 2028, split equally between Cumberland and Westmorland & Furness. The Department of Energy Security and Net Zero expect to extend the scheme for a further 2 years until 2030.

Homelessness in Cumberland has increased by 53% over the last four years; with a 16% increase in the number of statutory homeless duties owed in the last 12 months alone compared to 9.2% nationally.

Demand for emergency temporary accommodation due to homelessness has doubled in Cumberland in the past 12 months, compared to a 12% increase in England. Families with dependent children being accommodated in emergency temporary accommodation has also increased by 5% for the same period.

Unfortunately, this is not a trend that is likely to decrease without direct action to drive forward change.

Aligned to the national picture, the main reason for homelessness in Cumberland is due to family no longer able or willing to accommodate, with relationship breakdowns with friends or partners, loss of work and poor health (mental health) as secondary contributing factors. People owed a full homeless duty in Cumberland with recorded mental health needs increased by 22% over the review period.

These challenges often combine with a housing market that is not working for local vulnerable people, where there is an undersupply and lack of affordable options with limited security (particularly within the private rented sector {PRS}). The data review tells us that in the last 12 months, there has been a 26% increase in the number of applicants in Cumberland presenting as threatened with homelessness within 56 days due to the service of a valid section 21 notice within the PRS; 91% of all cases were no fault evictions resulting from landlords wishing to sell or re-let their properties and asking their tenants to leave as a result – this is 27% higher than the national average.

Applicants with dependent children has been the primary reason for priority need over the review period accounting for 39% of all main duty acceptances in 2023 to 2024.