The Impacts of House Rent on Children’s Well-being

: Analyzing the Relationship Among Floor Space, Rent and Other Expenses

Abstract

This study provides insights on policies for the reduction of child poverty based on an analysis of the impact of rental costs on children’s well-being among relatively low-income households. The data was taken from the 2016 “Tokyo Children’s Livelihood Survey,” which sampled 1435 rent-paying households and targeted families with children in the 5th, 8th, and 11th grades. The three variables of income, floor size of housing, and rent-to-income ratios were grouped into eleven different combinations, and were then analyzed through logistics regression and tobit regression. The following results were deduced from this study. Among households with annual incomes between 2.14 and 3.59 million yen, those living in “small” housing （with little space） but high rent tend to sacrifice basic needs for children, including education-related items. Households that have annual incomes lower than 3.59 million yen and live in non-small housing with high rent tend to be the ‘invisible poor.’ Households with annual incomes lower than 3.59 million yen and low rent forego spending for children even though they receive a sort of rent remission. To resolve this problem, government needs to establish policies to expand the current housing and other benefit programs, especially to provide appropriately-sized housing for families that are eligible to receive housing benefits.