The location of subsidized housing and its impacts on urban poverty - evidence from Guangzhou, China

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyze how the location of subsidized housing has impacts on poverty outcomes, within a broader research agenda aimed at improving the understanding of the relationship between subsidized housing and urban poverty in Chinese cities. International literature based on evidence from western cities suggests that subsidized housing is likely to induce concentrated urban poverty. There are few studies specifically on subsidized housing in urban China. The paper will endeavor to address whether the growing subsidized housing will have risk of creating poverty traps in the context of through location analysis. Contextualizing in Guangzhou, the distribution of subsidized housing will be mapped vis-à-vis the geography of job opportunities and selective public resources. The spatial relationship is thus clearly illustrated. It indicates a converging trend that subsidized housing tends to be located in relatively remote and under-served areas. Nonetheless, some subsidized housing estates happen to have improved location along with the expansion and development of urban area. Accordingly, some residents in these subsidized housing become well off. A process of differentiation among households in subsidized housing has been unfolding. Additionally, the spatial mismatch between the supply and demand, together with the restriction from household registration, poses extra poverty-inducing factors. Without careful consideration, subsidized housing will have the risks of creating poverty traps.