There is no doubt that the mental health difficulties social housing staff see as they go about their work have been steadily escalating for some years, and in turn the pressure on their own mental health has grown. They also tell us that the social and cultural root causes of poor mental health have become more complex. Meanwhile, community-based mental health services have been cut; housing workers have fewer and fewer sources of help to point their customers towards.

This is precisely why the ALMO sector now puts huge effort into supporting the mental health of both residents and hard-pressed staff. This work is both preventative and reactive.

For residents, holistic interventions tackle the root causes of poor health such as unemployment, social isolation and digital exclusion. For staff, initiatives such as the 24-hour employee assistance telephone helpline at Your Homes Newcastle can also link staff for self-referral to a confidential private counselling service. In the YHN office, Mental Health Advocates who have been trained in mental health first aid wear blue lanyards with the message: ‘Keep calm and contact us.’

For the wider community, initiatives like the Mental Toughness sessions provided by Stockport Homes Group are taken out to the wider community, including primary and secondary schools where they help to improve students’ attendance, resilience and overall wellbeing.

However, these are inevitably piecemeal interventions and our members’ experience and successes only highlight the fact that high level policymakers need to tackle close to a dozen different issues if the mental health of our nation is to improve.

Without investment in sufficient and truly affordable housing, money spent on other mental health interventions is as useful as leaving the taps running into a bath with no plug

These include:

• Reducing poverty, socio-economic inequality and social exclusion
• Breaking the cycle of bad childhood experiences
• Ending homelessness
• Supporting higher quality employment which gives more people greater control over their lives
• Effectively tackling discrimination
• Reforming a criminal justice system that traps many in a cycle of re-offending and homelessness
• Effectively tackling the structural causes of addictions such as problem gambling and substance misuse
• Tackling domestic abuse
• Making sure that everyone has easy access to open green spaces and nature

While this looks like an enormous agenda, our housing colleagues argue that the single biggest intervention – the one that could help mend many of these rips in the social fabric – would be to end the housing crisis.

A sufficient supply of genuinely affordable, secure and decent homes would level up life chances, reduce poverty by reducing housing costs, encourage community stability and resilience, end homelessness, and give people roots. It would also take pressure off social housing staff and their organisations, leaving them free to deliver the best possible services.

All the evidence shows that a stable home is the single most important factor in helping someone find and keep a job they enjoy and build a happy life for themselves and their family.

Without investment in making sure that everyone has the prospect of a good quality home that they can afford, money spent on other mental health interventions will be about as useful as leaving the taps running into a bath with no plug.