Dwelling arrangements and meaning issues of dwelling in a multilocational way of life for job reasons

Job-induced commuting between two residences has attracted increasing interest from both academia and the public in the last couple of years. However, housing issues in a multilocational way of life are barely addressed in research to date. In this paper commuters’ dwelling experiences, housing preferences and non-preferences at both residences are investigated from the perspective of the individual. Data presented in this paper are based on quantitative and qualitative methods. To sum up the main results, the multiple dwelling arrangements of commuters at the job-used secondary residence do not comply with the prevailing picture of a “minimalist” kind of dwelling in most empirical studies to date. Particular dwelling profiles of commuters at their secondary residence are derived from factor analysis and cluster analysis. Concerning objective dwelling conditions and subjective dwelling preferences a distinction between five types of dwelling of commuters becomes apparent: a first group who can realise their preferences for higher amenity values, (2) commuters with very small and simple dwellings and overall low dwelling needs, (3) commuters with sizeable, high standard secondary dwellings and overall high dwelling preferences, (4) commuters who cannot fulfil their dwelling preferences at the secondary residence, and (5) there are commuters with lower dwelling preferences than the actual dwelling conditions offer. Corresponding to the wide range of dwelling arrangements, the meanings which are attached to the dwelling in a multilocational way of life differ significantly among commuters. The job-used secondary residence is perceived as a working base, place of experience or second home and in some cases even any hierarchy concerning the meanings of the dwelling and the activities that take place in the dwelling disappear. Dwelling situation, housing preferences and dwelling experiences at the job-used secondary residence are influenced by life stage, family status, partnership situation, employment situation, gender, and life style.