Multi-level dynamics of housing policy change: a discourse network analysis of local public rental housing policy in China

Across the globe, nations and cities face mounting challenges to provide affordable housing for low-income families. Comparative housing policy literature distinguishes unitary, dualist, and productivist welfare regimes, each tied to different definitions of legitimate beneficiaries for social rental housing. While debates have largely centred on national-level differences, subnational variations have recently gained attention as localities play an increasingly prominent role in shaping national policy trajectories. This article examines China’s Public Rental Housing (PRH) Program to explore how housing welfare evolves at the intersection of national directives and local priorities. Drawing on discourse network analysis of local news reports from 180 cities, we trace the structural and temporal dynamics of local discourses about PRH target populations between 2010 and 2019. Findings show that local PRH discourses increasingly prioritise economically significant groups such as talents and migrant workers, reflecting the consolidation of a productivist orientation. At the same time, divergence in local discourses highlights cities’ strategic adaptation to distinct growth agendas, with cities initiating innovations that diffuse horizontally and ultimately reshape national policy. This multi-level, interactive process challenges assumptions of unified national housing regimes, revealing how local experimentation drives broader welfare transformations within China’s evolving hybrid housing model.