How do housing rents affect migrants' health? Evidence from the China migrants dynamic survey

High housing rents and housing costs have played a critical role in residents’ welfare, especially for migrants who are usually low-socioeconomic, and how housing rent shapes migrants’ health has become an important social issue. Using the 2017 China Migrants Dynamic Survey data, this study finds that rising housing rents are negatively correlated with migrants' self-rated health and lead to an increase in the probability of suffering from diseases for them. The negative effect of housing rent is larger for female or low-educated migrants, and short-term migrants are also more sensitive to housing rent change. Besides, housing rents have little significant impact on the health of locals. Three underlying mechanisms are verified. First, rising housing rents lead to the adjustment of family consumption structure, decrease the proportion of non-housing expenditures, and increase their working hours, which negatively affects their health. Second, rising housing rents may decrease their medical care accessibility or reduce their health care utilization level, which is harmful for migrants' health. Third, the decrease in social interaction level may also mediate the negative role of housing rents in migrants' health.