rents tend to be higher in locations closer to the city core. More specifically, housing rents become on average 11 percent lower every 1 km away from the city core. This negative correlation between the distance from the city core and housing rents remains statistically significant even after controlling for the quality of dwelling characteristics and access to services (4 percent lower rents with every 1 km away from the CBD). This suggests that given the characteristics of dwelling and access to services, it still costs extra to live closer to the city core, where economic opportunities and urban amenities are concentrated.

Moreover, it is less expensive to live in neighborhoods that are precarious and/or are prone to flooding (even after controlling for dwelling and service quality), therefore attracting low-income households. As already seen, housing rents are clearly lower in precarious areas. This is partly because those housing units tend to be structured with low-quality materials and lack access to services. Even after discounting such low-quality aspects, housing rents are on average 20 percent lower in precarious areas, compared to non-precarious areas. There may be some other negative characteristics (that is, disamenities) in precarious neighborhoods. Nevertheless, such disamenities lower the rents in precarious areas and thereby attract low-income households. Similar discount in rents is found in neighborhoods that are prone to flooding (11 percent lower rents).

# **5. Conclusion**

Drawing on recently collected household survey data, this paper examines living conditions in Kinshasa, by focusing on its spatial variations. The key findings are summarized as follows. First, worse living conditions are endured by poor and/or less educated households in precarious and/or peri-urban neighborhoods. Second, inequality in access to water is driven by locational factors, while sanitation access depends on household characteristics, such as the education levels of household heads. Third, while there is a concern about negative externalities from Kinshasa’s extremely high population and built-up density, poor households benefit from density to some extent, as indicated by a higher chance of their gaining access to basic services in dense neighborhoods. Finally, high housing costs in neighborhoods closer to the city core restrict access to economic opportunities and services among low-income households.

It is imperative to increase the supply of affordable housing to lessen the inequality of access to services in Kinshasa. Without providing affordable housing in the core urban areas of Kinshasa, the poor will continue to be excluded from the service benefits of city agglomeration —a tighter network of public services that more densely populated areas offer, such as public taps, public toilets, or SWM services that are less frequently seen in more sparsely populated peri-urban areas. At the same time, it is imperative that targeted investments are made in key peri-urban areas to reduce such spatial inequalities and improve access to basic public services for the poor households that seem to concentrate in those peri-urban or rural neighborhoods.

The proliferation of precarious neighborhoods in the extremely dense and populous city makes its residents potentially vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic. While density brings various benefits, it creates serious problems if not managed well. The risk of the spread of COVID-19 is very high in neighborhoods characterized by high population density, overcrowded housing, inadequate access to water, sanitation, and SWM services, and frequent exposure to flooding. As shown in this note, many precarious neighborhoods in Kinshasa have such characteristics. Spatially targeted preventive interventions that reduce such risk are critically important.

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