Assessment and determinants of residential satisfaction with public housing in Hangzhou, China

•This research assesses residential satisfaction with public housing and examines its determinants in Hangzhou, China.•The research indicates housing allocation policy impacts the residential satisfaction of public housing residents.•Neighborhood characteristics, public facilities and housing characteristics are the main factors of residential satisfaction.•The government should improve both public housing's residential environment and allocation scheme.

Improving public housing allocation efficiency and residential satisfaction is the key to the better realization of the social inclusion goals. We assess residential satisfaction with public housing and examine its determinants, based on the Hangzhou public housing household survey. We found that neighborhood environment, public facilities and housing characteristics are the main factors that influence residential satisfaction. Public housing allocation scheme, social environment and residence comparison also have influences. Among the four types of public housing, cheap rental housing has the highest residential satisfaction, followed by public rental and monetary subsidized housing, while economic comfortable housing has the lowest residential satisfaction. The residents in public rental and monetary subsidized housing pay more attention to the neighborhood environment, residents in cheap rental housing are more concerned about the housing and neighborhood characteristics, and economic comfortable housing residents care more about the neighborhood characteristics and public facilities. Therefore, the government should not only improve the physical environment of public housing, but also the public housing allocation scheme and social environment. The different needs of public housing residents should also be considered to improve residential satisfaction and the allocation efficiency of public housing.