Do Immigrants Equally Benefit from Rent Control?

63 Pages Posted: 31 Jul 2024

See all articles by Xun Bian

Xun Bian

University of North Texas

Ruoyu Chen

University of Windsor

Hanchen Jiang

University of North Texas - Department of Economics

Date Written: May 20, 2024

Abstract

This study examines how immigrants, often concentrated in urban areas and burdened by higher rents, benefit from rent control. We focus on New York City's rent stabilization policy, using high-quality microdata from 2002 to 2017. We find that immigrant tenants face greater rent affordability challenges and are more likely to live in rent-stabilized units than non-immigrant tenants. However, conditional on living in rent-stabilized housing units, immigrants receive $151 less in monthly rent discounts than their non-immigrant counterparts. This notable immigrant-native gap is economically and statistically significant and robust to various checks. In addition, this gap is particularly pronounced among female-headed tenants, highlighting an additional layer of gender disparity. Factors like spatial sorting, tenancy duration, policy awareness, and property characteristics primarily contribute to this disparity.

Keywords: Rent Control, Rent Stabilization, Housing Affordability, Immigrants, New York City

Suggested Citation

Bian, Xun and Chen, Ruoyu and Jiang, Hanchen, Do Immigrants Equally Benefit from Rent Control? (May 20, 2024). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4900907

Xun Bian

University of North Texas ( email )

G. Brint Ryan College of Business
1155 Union Circle #311160
Denton, TX 76203
United States
(940) 369-8309 (Phone)

Ruoyu Chen

University of Windsor

401 Sunset Avenue
Windsor, Ontario N9B 3P4
Canada

Hanchen Jiang (Contact Author)

University of North Texas - Department of Economics ( email )

Denton, TX 76203-1457
United States

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