The impact of COVID-19 on petty landlords in Delhi, India: caste, gender and urban villages

Gautam, Ajay Kumar (2024) The impact of COVID-19 on petty landlords in Delhi, India: caste, gender and urban villages. Indian Journal of Labour Economics, 67. 1159 – 1175. ISSN 0971-7927

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Abstract

COVID-19 presented unparalleled difficulties for financially disadvantaged renters, limiting their ability to pay for housing. The impact of this crisis on petty landlords, who often provide housing to these precarious renters, is unclear and requires investigation. Utilising data from a survey of 300 households, and focus group discussions (FGDs) with 100 petty landlords, primarily first-generation Scheduled Caste (SC) and Other Backward Class (OBC) owners, this case study examines the effects of the pandemic on petty landlords in urban villages in Delhi, India. The findings highlight the sedimentation of caste in informal rental market spaces: Firstly, it highlights the role of caste-based socio-economic factors in the emergence of petty landlords in relation to dominant caste landlords. Secondly, it examines the circumstances that led to financial strain among marginalised caste landlords during the pandemic and explores how their responses to this stress worsened existing housing challenges for vulnerable tenants. Thirdly, the study reveals that gender also played a significant role in shaping the experiences of petty landlords, with women outnumbering men as proxy landlords in this group. Lastly, the paper explores how state imposed eviction interventions brought the complexities of caste, class, gender and urban marginality to the forefront.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2024 The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Indian Society of Labour Economics
Divisions:	International Inequalities Institute
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology
JEL classification:	R - Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics > R2 - Household Analysis > R21 - Housing Demand R - Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics > R3 - Production Analysis and Firm Location > R31 - Housing Supply and Markets Z - Other Special Topics > Z1 - Cultural Economics; Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology > Z13 - Social Norms and Social Capital; Social Networks R - Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics > R1 - General Regional Economics > R14 - Land Use Patterns
Date Deposited:	02 Jan 2025 11:03
Last Modified:	08 Jan 2025 13:27
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/126535

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