Letter: Maslow’s hierarchy of needs hides housing horror

John Burn-Murdoch sets out graphically the intergenerational horror story of housing in Britain since 1980 (Opinion, January 13).

Yet in one crucial respect, he himself underplays the horror. He fails to reference the physical and mental health impacts of unattainable housing. The costs of these are borne, over many years, by the under-housed individual and their family, the economy and the NHS.

Abraham Maslow, the American psychologist, placed the need for “shelter” at the very bottom of his famous hierarchy of needs.

We used to know this. I have a photo of my newly married parents’ first rentbook for the council house into which they moved in 1953. It is clear on the cover that after the “accountant to the council”, the next most responsible officer is the “medical officer of health”.

Housing is primarily a matter of public health, and the costs of under-housing eventually fall on the NHS, and on the taxpayer. In the endless merry-go-round of ministers and civil servants that nowadays passes for “government” in the UK, how have we lost sight of something so basic?

Gary Backler
London TW1, UK