Transforming social housing: moving beyond tenant blame to address systemic indoor environmental quality (IEQ) challenges for healthy homes in Ireland

Social housing in Ireland often struggles with pervasive mould, dampness, and condensation, which severely impact tenant health and well-being due to compromised Indoor Environment Quality (IEQ). This study examines the IEQ landscape in social homes, analyzing stakeholder perspectives on how infrastructural deficiencies, maintenance challenges, and tenant experiences are interconnected. Findings indicate that issues stem from systemic failures, including outdated infrastructure, reactive maintenance, and fragmented policy frameworks, rather than solely tenant lifestyles, which challenges the prevalent tenant-blaming narrative. The research shows how historical policy legacies and current operational gaps perpetuate environmental injustice. It does so by empirically demonstrating the limitations of behaviour-focused approaches and underscoring the need for collaborative, multi-level interventions to achieve fair, safe and healthy housing. More specifically, we demonstrate how mould is a visible manifestation of broken policy loops, offering a new understanding of systemic environmental injustice in social housing. To address these challenges and create healthy homes, the research advocates for a collaborative and proactive approach involving housing bodies, policymakers, and residents, focusing on robust maintenance strategies, enhanced inter-agency collaboration, and meaningful tenant engagement.