Informality, affordability, and mortgage stress during the Covid-19 pandemic

A mixed-methods study of urban low-income households in Mumbai’s periphery

Bibliographic Data

ID12065666
AuthorsManav Khaire (0000-0001-6831-686X, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, corresponding author), Shishir Kumar Jha (0000-0002-5122-080X, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay), Arti D Kalro (0000-0001-5249-4485, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay), Disha Bhanot (SP Jain Institute of Management and Research)
Year2024
Volume48
Issue1
Pages202-226
Publication date2024-08-07
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Urban Affairs (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0735-2166 • E-ISSN: 1467-9906
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/07352166.2024.2379899
OpenAlexW4401388596
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited72

The preexisting global urban housing affordability crisis worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic. Within nations, households belonging to various socioeconomic strata differentially experienced housing affordability issues, with the low-income households disproportionately bearing the affordability stress compared to the higher-income households. We use a mixed-methods approach to investigate the consequences of COVID-19-induced mortgage stress in 154 low-income homebuyers living in the periphery of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region in India. We draw upon the Conservation of Resources theory to study the stress outcomes due to affordability issues and understand its linkages with household financial wellbeing. A quantitative survey of 154 study participants revealed a significant relationship between mortgage stress and financial well-being mediated by financial stress. Further, qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews of 16 study participants using a comparative lens suggested that the pandemic-induced affordability issues disproportionately affected households with informal employment. Overall, the findings highlight a dynamic nature of affordability and its peculiar interplay with informality, emphasizing the urgency to reorient housing policies toward affordability and informality issues

Affordable housing · Business · Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 · Demographic economics · Development economics · Economic growth · Economics · Environmental health · Financial crisis · Geography · Household income · Metropolitan area · Pandemic · Population · Socioeconomic status · Socioeconomics · COVID-19 Pandemic Impacts · Housing Market and Economics · Urban and Rural Development Challenges

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