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Trinity Impact Evaluation Unit (TIME)

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The Health Impact of Social Housing

social housing

  • Researchers:

    • Ronan C Lyons (TCD) and Alan de Bromhead (UCD)

  • Partners:

    • N/A

  • Location:

    • Ireland

  • Sample:

    • Approximately 45,000 heavily subsidized cottages across 140 health districts in Ireland

  • Timeline:

    • 1870 - 1919

  • Theme:

    • Health

  • Description:

    • This project investigates the impact of the introduction of heavily subsidized 'Labourers Act' cottages in rural Ireland in the period 1883-1915 on public health outcomes, in particular in the transmission of communicable disease. It does this by using a combination of datasets, in particular a rich dataset on the location and cost of cottages authorized and built from 1885, and data on death by cause at the district level at annual frequency from 1870. The hypothesis to be tested, found in the assessments at the time by health officials, is that the introduction of high-quality rural housing reduced deaths from communicable diseases, in particular airborne disease.