Housing Tenure and Subjective Wellbeing: The Importance of Public Housing

Abstract People’s subjective wellbeing is influenced by the built environment, including housing and neighbourhood characteristics. Consistent with prior literature, we find that wellbeing is associated with the condition of a resident’s house (particularly dampness and cold) and with the resident’s perception of their neighbourhood (especially relating to social capital and safety). We show also that the form of tenure (public rental, private rental, owner-occupier) has a material impact on subjective wellbeing. Identical people in identical settings may have different wellbeing outcomes depending on their security of housing tenure. Our findings utilise a survey administered to residents in public rental housing, private rentals and owner-occupiers in New Zealand, focusing on the capital city, Wellington. Despite selection effects, which are likely to bias findings against higher wellbeing for public housing tenants, we find that public tenants have higher subjective wellbeing (WHO-5 and life satisfaction) than do private tenants, and similar wellbeing to owner-occupiers. Length of tenure helps to explain wellbeing differences between public and private tenants, likely reflecting New Zealand law under which private renters have insecure tenure.