Housing and transport play role in food insecurity

Study author says environmental health teams are "uniquely positioned" to see pressures intersecting in everyday life, and can play an important preventative role before households reach crisis point

Food insecurity in the UK is increasingly associated with a combination of housing, transport, income, and local food access pressures, according to a University of Sheffield study, Building Resilience: The Role of Food Clubs in UK Food Security.

The report describes food insecurity as part of an “architecture of hardship,” where multiple factors combine over time. As the study’s author, Dr Megan Blake, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Sheffield says, food insecurity is rarely caused by a single issue in isolation. “It emerges through the interaction of pressures around housing costs, transport access, poor health, insecure work, weak local food environments, and low financial resilience.” 

The study draws on survey data from more than 14,000 low-income households across England and Scotland and uses a ‘Food Ladders’ framework to describe different forms of food support, ranging from emergency provision to longer-term community-based interventions such as food clubs.

Access to affordable, healthy food is highlighted as a spatial issue, particularly in rural areas. The report states: “More than half of lower-income rural respondents in the study lacked access to a shop selling fresh fruit and vegetables within a twenty-minute walk, demonstrating that geography itself can become a driver of food insecurity.” 

Food clubs are described in the report as “capacity building” interventions within the Food Ladders framework, positioned between emergency food aid and broader structural change. They are associated in the study with improved dietary outcomes, including higher fruit and vegetable consumption among regular users, and increased cooking confidence compared with non-users.

The study also identifies wider social outcomes associated with food club participation, including reduced social isolation and increased community connection reported by members. 

“…improved housing conditions - safer, more secure, and more affordable housing - can help to move people out of severe hardship, and back on their feet.”

Helen Barnard, Director of Policy and Research at the Trussell Trust, echoes the study’s findings: “Too many people are living in cold, damp conditions, at risk of homelessness, or in temporary accommodation, making it harder to learn, work, and live.

“Our latest research shows that housing insecurity is an increasing driver of food insecurity in the UK. Our evidence shows that improved housing conditions - safer, more secure, and more affordable housing - can help to move people out of severe hardship, and back on their feet.”

The University of Sheffield report also identifies what it describes as a “buffering effect,” where food insecurity is strongly associated with poorer physical health, poorer mental health, and greater social isolation. Dr Blake says, “However, active engagement with food clubs appeared to weaken some of these relationships, suggesting these spaces may help reduce some of the wider harms associated with prolonged hardship.” 

The study is cross-sectional and does not establish long-term causal effects. However, it reports that households engaging more regularly with food clubs were more likely to be food secure than non-users or former users. 

Ending food insecurity in the UK for good means putting in place the long-term solutions that enable everyone to afford the essentials they need. The Trussell Trust states that local coordination of support services is key.

Barnard says, “There is vital work to be done locally to deliver more coordinated, cash-first support, so people do not need emergency food. That includes local advice services, health services, and employment support. It can also include organisations that help to build thriving communities and reduce isolation, like community food clubs and other activities.”

In response to evidence of multiple factors combining to undermine food security, Dr Blake says environmental health teams are often uniquely positioned to see these pressures intersecting in everyday life. 

“They already work across housing quality, fuel poverty, licensing, environmental conditions, and public health, so they can play an important preventative role in identifying where communities are becoming structurally vulnerable before households reach acute crisis.”