This chapter discusses the methodology employed in the research and the findings from interviews with young people living independently. In order to place the research into context, it is necessary to consider first the social and economic conditions that exist in Newcastle, particularly those that most affect young people.

Newcastle: the context

Census data for 2001 showed that 50% of people aged 16-74 were in employment in Newcastle, compared to an average for England and Wales of 60.6%. There were higher percentages of people in the city who were unemployed, economically inactive students or permanently sick or disabled than was the case nationally (ONS, 2003b). The government's (2000) indices of neighbourhood deprivation showed that, of 354 districts in England, Newcastle was the tenth most deprived in terms of employment and the eighteenth most deprived in terms of income (ONS, 2003b).

As might be expected from the economic profile of the city, there is a large social rented sector in Newcastle, with 33% of households living in this sector (ONS, 2003b), compared to 20% in England (Leather et al, 2002). As with other northern cities that lack job opportunities, the local authority has experienced difficulties with outward migration and falling demand for rented housing. The population of Newcastle fell by 16% between 1971 and 1996 (Power and Mumford, 1999) and there were 4,500 empty social rented properties in 2000 (NCC, 2000). A variety of social problems are evident in some areas where there is low demand for housing: for example, concentrations of poverty and unemployment, and a breakdown in informal social controls (Power and Mumford, 1999).

At the time when this research was conducted, the council's housing stock was divided into six management areas:

• • Walke

• • Gosforth, Byker, Heaton and Shieldfield

• • Cruddas Park

• • Blakelaw

• • Benwell

• • Newburn

Low demand was concentrated in the inner west areas of Cruddas Park and Benwell, although there were wards and neighbourhoods throughout the city that experienced problems.

Turning to issues that particularly affect young people, attendance at secondary schools in Newcastle was lower than the national average in 2001-02, as it had been in previous years (NCC, 2003a). In 2002, 38% of pupils passed five or more GCSEs with grades A*-C, compared to a national average of 52% (NCC, 2003b). Newcastle was in thirtieth position in the Social Exclusion Unit's (1999a, p 22) list of authorities with the highest rates of conceptions among young women aged 15-17.