Or let's just pass laws that dictate no one can live more than a certain distance from the place they work. Public employees were forced to abide by residency rules for years under the fear that living too far away would mean they couldn't respond in a timely manner to emergencies.

I think there are still a lot of cities and counties that still have these rules. These days the reasons are likely more geared towards the idea that the entity paying your wages should be the one collecting your taxes than any emergency time response issues or fuel saving reasons.