Astronomical cost of living: challenging housing, transportation and commuting experiences among care workers

Access to affordable housing and transportation are social determinants of health (SDH). Furthermore, lack of access to efficient and cost-effective public transportation can add hours to the workday, increase exposure to environmental pollutants, and reduce access to healthcare, employment and educational opportunities. Empirical evidence suggests that people have mutually reinforcing effects of precarious, low quality, inaccessible, and/or adequate housing and transportation that create vulnerable situations impacting people’s work, home life, and leisure time. In this study, qualitative data was generated from in-depth, semi-structured interviews with healthcare workers from a residential long-term care organization located in an urbanized region with both public transportation and socialized housing programs. The data reveal that precarious housing and transportation situations were ubiquitous challenging issues among a diverse group of healthcare workers, which demonstrates the need to take into account the realities of the participants’ circumstances, identify potential public health interventions, and advocate for policy change.