Migrants' perceived social integration in different housing tenures in urban China

Housing is often identified by the government and scholars as a key dimension of strategy for promoting migrant social integration. Yet, existing studies often pay attention to homeownership without distinguishing various housing tenures. This paper examines the effects of tenures on migrant social integration. Drawing on 2017 China Migrants Dynamic Survey data collected by the National Health Commission of China, this study examines migrants' perceived social integration in 11 housing tenures, which vary from informal to formal, private to public, and rental to ownership. It is found that migrants' social integration increases from those living in informal housing, to the private rental, to the public rental, to informal owned, to privately owned, and to public owned housing. Homeownership plays an important role in affecting migrants' perceived social integration. It is worth pointing out that migrants who live in public housing, whether rented or owned, tend to have a higher level of social integration within each group (renters and owners). Heterogeneity analysis further shows that the positive effects of owned housing and public housing on migrant social integration are significantly strengthened in first-tier cities and cities with advanced industrial structures and higher housing-price-to-income ratios.