Respecto a las variables laborales.

The impact of overcrowding on individuals is examined initially and comprehensively in Baldasarre (1979). Throughout the analysis, the book was not just examining about increasing density in a dwelling unit, but also about increasing density within an urban space. The dimensions affected by crowded home living are multi-faceted. On one hand, dense urban life raises the level of crime and violence and unmet housing needs could cause social problems (Morris & Winter, 1975; Fischer, 1984); on the other hand, overcrowding could seriously affect household member’s mental health, physical health, life satisfaction and general well-being (Gove, Hughs and Galle, 1979; Evans, Wells and Moch, 2003; Boyko and Cooper, 2014). The effects of overcrowding on family structures and family relationships are also challenging, although the area of empirical research has been less developed compared to its health and education counterparts. Limited housing resources may force families to alter family structures and to reduce their sizes, e.g. through reducing the number of children born to the family or making children leave home early. It also affects the role performance of family members forcing them to adapt to space shortages. Unnecessary frictions could also be raised due to loss of privacy and perceived unfair allocation of spaces among family members.

Additionally, the effect is asymmetric across subgroups with certain types of people affected more than others. For example, children are more vulnerable to the impact of high density situations than adults. Evidence has found that children experience social deficits (Mitchell, 1971; Davis et al., 1974), impairments in well-being (Booth and Johnson, 1975; Rodin, 1976; Solari and Mare, 2012) and deterioration in school performance (Goux and Maurin, 2003) when living in crowded conditions. Mothers in overcrowded homes are also found to be more stressed, leading to mental health issues (Gove et al., 1977). The impact on overcrowding tends to be different for different groups, e.g. those from different socioeconomic groups, those at different stages of life cycles as well as those with different psychological attributes. The research on these subgroup effects of overcrowding are not explored at length in this chapter.

In the UK overcrowding literature, quantitative methodologies measuring the health and education impact of overcrowding mainly reside in health economics and epidemiological research. Martin (1976) found that coughs, colds, asthmas, influenza and diarrhoea are associated with household size and number of children per household. Brennan and Lancashire (1978) found a clear association between housing density and children mortality under 5 years. Williams and Lloyd (1990) found weak correlations between crowding and stillbirths and prenatal mortality. Ranson (1991) in the British National Child Development Study showed that children in crowded homes were more likely than others to miss school for medical reasons. Health outcomes of overcrowding with respect to different ethnic groups were examined by Smith et al. (1992) and Ambrose (1996). It was found that

minority ethnic groups living in crowded housing experienced particular problems with cold, damp and similar illnesses. Because overcrowding is concentrated in London, many reports look only at this region. Reports have been produced by several charity organisations include Shelter (2005), Lloyd (2010), 4in10 (2012) and Runnymede Trust (2014). The Labour Government also published reports examining the impact of overcrowding on health and education in 2012. These studies were mainly qualitative, providing personal accounts and experiences of members of overcrowded households especially children. Overall, several key findings are identified that black and minority ethnic households (BMEs) are more likely to overcrowd than their White British counterparts; the negative effects on children tends to range from missing homework, to the deterioration in family relationships as a result of increasing depression, anxiety and stress in crowded living space.

Baldasarre (1979) suggested that overcrowding may not be as detrimental as one might initially expect, since people can adapt to constrained environments by re-organising their space and reducing their unwanted contacts or limiting the time spent with these contacts through various means, e.g. increasing outdoor activities and time in other local amenities and generating more efficient coordination among family members over daily schedules. Myers et al. (1996) also argued that overcrowding does not necessarily have harmful effects on families (contradicting many previous empirical studies). Instead, it was thought to be merely socially distasteful to outsiders who observe its presence. Indeed, overcrowding could arise from an ethnic group’s distinct life style choice such that living in a crowded dwelling demonstrates the tendency for providing mutual support or to manage migration by family members. For example, Pader (1994) conducted a study of Mexican households living in Los Angeles in which she found sharing a bed to be seen as preferable and normal reflecting their desired values of interdependence and sharing. The cultural appropriateness of overcrowding in this case violates the assumption of physical privacy, independence and individualism typically found in White ethnic groups. It is their preference to have a large family unit that is simply undividable, e.g. many children and elderly in the family.

Alternatively, overcrowding could be perceived to be merely a process of self-correction upon arrival in the destination country where migrants face conflicting priorities within a short time limit restricted by immigration regulations. Migrant households may accept the temporary compromise of living in crowded housing until their employment prospects improve which prepares them for better housing at a later stage. Therefore, overcrowding may be only a short-term socioeconomic deprivation which could be mitigated over a longer period of settlement. However, the more severe is the problem the greater the imbalance between local residents’ income and employment conditions and the housing market in an area, leading to affordability issues. It is not uncommon to observe households sharing a dwelling unit with other households or compromising on living space in order to live in high housing cost areas. In this case, overcrowding is again another measure taken for households in

response to high house prices in an area while attempting to stay close to employment. Other things being equal, we would still expect households to exhibit a preference for larger housing space which allow them to enjoy more freedom, perform more household activities and endow them a higher socioeconomic status (Hirsch, 2005; Frank, 2007).

Therefore, unmet housing needs will always exist but the problem only becomes severe if it is structural and persistent, e.g. if an ethnic group interacting with the current housing system has generated persistent level of overcrowding; or, if it has detrimental effects on vulnerable groups such as women and children. Whether this is an important policy issue depends very much on firstly, the ability of a migrant household to self-correct the overcrowding situation within an appropriate timeframe; and secondly, to what extent adjustments in the housing system to minority member groups or rehousing could improve housing satisfaction.

The remainder of this chapter attempts to analyse the issue in order to achieve a clearer understanding of both migrant households’ housing behaviours pertaining to their ethnicity characteristics and the role of the current housing system (i.e. key housing attributes in areas) that play in minority group overcrowding. It is assumed, adjustment mechanisms vary from individual household to household but there could still be patterns drawn across ethnic groups. Some may compromise employment and housing for co-ethnic social capital while others would prefer the opposite compromise. We also recognise that households may cut household sizes to devote more resources to achieve higher occupational status and vice versa, so there are potential interactions with household formation and fertility issues which are not explored at length here.