Determinants of Discrimination in Access to Housing for Marginalised Social Groups in India

Abstract

Equal and non-discriminatory access to housing is imperative to ensure right to housing for all. Inter-group inequality in access to housing continues to persist in both rural and urban areas in India. Housing is the highest household expenditure for a majority of households. Marginalised social groups experience discrimination in access to housing: both rental and owned. Despite having affordability, equal access to housing is denied for marginalised social groups. This article attempts to understand the inter-group inequality in access to housing based on NSSO 76th round, 2018. The article also measures the role of discrimination in denial of equal access to housing for marginalised social groups based on the decomposition analysis. The results of the article indicate that apart from income and other economic variables, discrimination based on social group identity determines the access to quality of housing. In comparison to dominant social groups, scheduled caste and religious minority households have lower access to good quality of housing despite similar incomes.