Revisiting jobs-housing balance: unveiling the impact of housing subsidy policy on residential locations across different income groups

Abstract As many countries recover from COVID-19 without constraints with travelling issues, in which citizens’ travelling and commuting behaviours and patterns are reemphasised. However, as for low-income households who are relatively disadvantaged and excluded from the labour and housing markets, research on their commuting behaviours and movement patterns has been underestimated, though they play an important role in improving social equality and ensuring the long-term sustainability of welfare systems. This study explores and predicts the extent to which jobs-housing balance can be understood and interpreted here by capturing dynamics in low-income households’ commuting behaviours and patterns influenced by subsidy housing preferences. A Spatial General Equilibrium Model is adopted based on the census data and a large-migrant survey in 2010–2020, China. The findings indicate that low and middle-low income households influenced by policy preferences adjust to their commuting behaviours by decreasing the commuting times and distances among different districts, showing a better jobs-housing balance. Low-income households tend to have a higher elasticity of jobs-housing balance than middle-low income households. Policy preferences contribute to improving jobs-housing balance and reducing commuting costs, and it is largely attributed to the quality of local transport infrastructure. Policy implications and limitations are also drawn.