Neighbourhood belonging and mental health, by housing

Regardless of whether they rent or own their home, people who don’t feel they belong in their neighbourhood are more likely to experience poor mental health

This chart shows the proportion of people experiencing severe psychological distress in 2020–21 according to whether they feel like they belong in their neighbourhood, and broken down by housing tenure.

• Across all housing tenures, people who feel they belong in their neighbourhood are less likely to experience severe psychological distress than people who don’t feel they belong.  The association is strongest for outright home owners:
  • Outright homeowners are 4.5 times more likely to experience severe psychological distress if they do not feel they belong (21%) than if they do (5%).
  • Private renters, who are 3.6 times more likely to experience severe psychological distress, and people in social housing, who are 2.7 times more likely.
• Private and social renters are more likely to experience psychological distress, regardless of neighbourhood belonging. 9% of private renters and 11% of social renters who feel they belong in their neighbourhood experience severe psychological stress, compared with 4.6% of outright owners. Other building blocks of health (housing stability and security, income) likely play a role in explaining this.