This report analyses the past decade of UK evidence to explore the relationship between housing circumstances and the experience of poverty. It considers the relative importance of housing cost, quality and location in the impact of poverty on people’s lives, and the role of housing in enabling people to increase their income from work. Over the past two decades, the housing system has been asked to do more to tackle poverty and worklessness. Housing benefit changes are at the heart of the Coalition Government’s welfare reform. However, the significance of the links between housing and poverty deserves greater recognition, from both those interested in housing and those interested in poverty. The report sets out what the existing evidence tells us about the impact of poverty on housing circumstances, and the impact of housing circumstances on poverty and employment.