Menu
There is empirical evidence that those who live far from their place of work make residential moves nearer to it as substitute to long-distance commutes. However, there is little known about this process in NI. People may only move house if their commute exceeds a certain threshold and this may vary between urban and rural areas and by dependent on the general, investigating questions about motives for housing moves, the size of housing/labour markets and their health status. More specifically, the project aims also to consider the mobility experiences of people with (a) limiting long-term illnesses and (b) general health problems but who are still in employment.
There is policy interest in these groups because they are a counterpart to the long-term ill who remain on incapacity benefits – understanding how people with similar health problems but in employment is thus of wider interest. There is some evidence that individuals on incapacity benefits with health problems tend to have lower mobility expectations than others; but is this true for similar people still in work? And are people with health problems more likely to minimise their commutes through moving house than others? It aims to throw light on the motivations for residential moves and show how employment and housing markets (and by implication policies) interact. The project is relevant for those interested in welfare, health, transport and housing/labour markets.
Publications and Outputs:
This project ended prematurely as two of the Research Team moved away and completion of outputs was no longer possible due to the research team’s other commitments.
