The Cheshire and Merseyside Health and Housing Partnership is a collaboration between the Cheshire and Merseyside Health and Care Partnership and local housing organisations – with support from the Housing Association Charitable Trust.

The partnership will focus on:

• Healthy homes: Ensuring that housing supports residents' health rather than exacerbating existing health conditions
• Mental health and housing: Providing specialised housing solutions to improve recovery outcomes for individuals with severe mental illness, including those awaiting hospital discharge
• Public health promotion and engagement: Utilising housing association community programmes to tackle health inequalities, food insecurity, and poverty, while strengthening local health infrastructure and community engagement
• Workforce opportunities for tenants: Opening pathways for social housing tenants to enter health and social care jobs by simplifying processes, building partnerships between housing associations and recruiters, and demystifying careers in the NHS.

Prof Ian Ashworth, NHS Cheshire and Merseyside's director of population health, said: ‘We know that housing is a vital determinant of health and that substandard housing is a cause of health inequalities. This partnership is about recognising the power of housing as a foundation for better health and well-being.

‘Together with our housing partners across Cheshire and Merseyside, we will continue work to address inequalities, enabling healthier, more sustainable communities.'