Employee residential location choice: how existing supply and neighborhood characteristics impact housing preferences in Chapel Hill, NC

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Last Modified
  • October 22, 2019
Creator
  • Eklund, Brika L.
    • Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of City and Regional Planning
Abstract
  • Chapel Hill, North Carolina is an intriguing case study with which to explore housing options for specific populations. The established institutions of UNC-Chapel Hill and UNC Hospitals offer centralized employment options that attract faculty and staff from throughout the region and across the country. Unlike some cities where both housing and employment options are decentralized, the latter is not the case in Chapel Hill as both institutions are firmly rooted in the community. Despite this centralized location, employees live both within and outside town limits because of the interplay between limited affordable housing supply, high prices for existing units, income constraints, and neighborhood characteristics that may impact residential location choices. This study explores the residential location patterns of three employee population groups -- delineated by household income and employer type -- and investigates the individual, household, and neighborhood characteristics that correlate with their residential location choices. This study finds that while individual and household characteristics are not correlated with residential location choice, employees within each group tend to reside distances away from UNC-Chapel Hill that have similar characteristics such as racial composition, educational status, and degree of homeownership within neighborhoods. This study also provides an example methodology of how to explore the distance away from campus that newly-employed workforce households would likely live if income was not a constraining factor and all pertinent independent variables were tested.
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DOI
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Rights statement
  • In Copyright
Advisor
  • Quercia, Roberto
Degree
  • Master of City and Regional Planning
Degree granting institution
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Graduation year
  • 2011
Language
Location
  • Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States
Extent
  • 67
Deposit record
  • b3ab205f-7827-443a-b796-3f32525f3bb2
Date uploaded
  • March 6, 2013

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