Commuting burden and housing affordability for low-income renters

The research literature has made various efforts to understand the role of transport networks and housing in shaping urban productivity. Extensive attention has been dedicated to understanding how agglomeration effects influence productivity. Some consideration has been presented in relation to transport networks, particularly the potential for improved transport accessibility to increase the effective spatial labour market of a city. However, few, if any, studies have focused on specific subgroups with particular circumstances, such as low-income renters. Likewise, in the housing literature there has been relatively limited attention to productivity dimensions of housing supply. Much of the debate over the past decade has been entangled in the contestation of planning regulation without great attention to the productivity dimensions of such interventions. At best, the conclusions from this effort are modest. Planning regulation may limit housing supply and place pressure on house prices but any relationship is complex, non-linear and subject to countervailing positive effects that may moderate the effects of higher prices. Throughout this literature, productivity remains an elusive concept, with only Maclennan et al. (2019) appearing to have taken due care to offer clear conceptualisation. Therefore, the present study has a constructive role to play in attending to the potential productivity implications for the specific Q2 renter subgroup while avoiding focus on the restrictive role of planning regulation.