Access to Housing in Urban China

To authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2427.2009.00848.x Byline: JOHN R. LOGAN (1), YIPING FANG (2), ZHANXIN ZHANG (3) Keywords: urban China; housing; migrants; hukou; tenure; privatization; market reform Abstract: Abstract Like income inequality, housing inequality in urban China is strongly affected by state policies that give preferential treatment to insiders. In this case, the key policies are related to their residence status, which involves not only their migration history but also their legal position. Using data from the Chinese census of 2000 for eight large cities, this study shows how residence status affects access to various pathways to housing. In addition to the well-known marginal housing situation of the recent 'floating population', it documents surprising advantages for migrants with urban registration status and persistent disadvantages for rural migrants regardless of how long they have lived in the city. Resume Comme l'inegalite de revenu, l'inegalite de logement dans les villes chinoises est nettement affectee par les mesures etatiques qui privilegient les residents en place. En l'occurrence, les politiques determinantes s'attachent au statut de residence, ce qui recouvre a la fois l'historique migratoire des individus et leur situation juridique. A partir des donnees du recensement chinois de 2000 dans huit grandes villes, l'etude montre comment le statut de residence influe sur l'acces aux differents canaux conduisant a un logement. Outre la condition de logement marginale bien connue de la 'population flottante' recente, sont exposes les surprenants atouts des migrants qui sont enregistres comme urbains, et les inconvenients persistants que rencontrent les migrants ruraux quelle que soit la duree pendant laquelle ils ont vecu dans la ville. Author Affiliation: (1)Spatial Structures in the Social Sciences, Department of Sociology, Brown University, USA (2)Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies, Erasmus University, the Netherlands (3)Institute of Population and Labor Economics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, 5 Jianguomennei Dajie, Beijing 100732, China Article note: John R. Logan (John_Logan@Brown.edu), Spatial Structures in the Social Sciences, Department of Sociology, Brown University, Box 1916, Providence, RI 02912, USA, Yiping Fang (y.fang@ihs.nl), Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies, Erasmus University, 3000 BX Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and Zhanxin Zhang (zhangzx@cass.org.cn), Institute of Population and Labor Economics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, 5 Jianguomennei Dajie, Beijing 100732, China