Hillcrest’s Joy Melville shines light on health and poverty at Dundee’s Social Inequalities Conference

Hillcrest Tenant Services Manager, Joy Melville, presented at the Social Inequalities Conference last Wednesday, which was held at Dundee Caird Hall, and saw an audience of over 2,000 pupils from across Scotland who are studying National 5 Modern Studies.

During the presentation, Joy underscored the critical role that housing conditions play in the broader issue of social inequality, linking poor housing to adverse health outcomes and financial hardship.

There was a particular focus on the impact of damp, mould and condensation in the home, and pupils were shown a video created by Hillcrest showing what people can do to reduce moisture in the home.

Pupils were also pointed to the Hillcrest Energy Advice Team Facebook page for other information about fuel poverty and how to mitigate against this.

The goal of the conference was to enable pupils to develop their understanding of poverty and health inequality, and to inspire solutions to these issues from Scotland’s next generation.

Speaking about the event, Joy said: “Many challenges affect people and families all across Scotland, from high cost of living through to struggles with income poverty”.

The aim of the day was to highlight these challenges to the younger generation, as well as outlining what we can do to help so that young people can become more aware, which is the first step in tackling these issues over generations to come.”