Richard Crisp, Tony Gore, Lindsey McCarthy - Sheffield Hallam

Year of publication: 2017

This research looks at connectivity and low income neighbourhoods. It finds an increasing mismatch between location of housing and major centres of employment.

A lack of affordable housing pushes low-income households into out-of-town locations where transport links may be weak and commuting costs more. This restricts their access to employment opportunities, which exacerbates experiences of poverty. Transport issues affect different groups to varying extents with evidence to show that age, ethnicity and, in particular, gender can exacerbate the barriers to accessing and using transport.

The report concludes that physical changes to transport infrastructure or more mixed land use patterns are unlikely to be sufficient on their own. Similarly, improved housing mobility may not create better employment outcomes. Rather, these two approaches need complementing with targeted interventions to help people overcome financial, informational, perceptual and emotional barriers to making trips to hitherto unfamiliar destinations, or to overcome stigmatised perceptions of their home area. Such interventions also need to be of sufficient scale and duration to have a significant effect.

Content type: Economy

Tags: Report

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