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My PhD research is on whether the laws, rules and norms (institutions) of local government in Canada are biased against renters and how that bias affects their political participation. #cdnmuni #academictwitter

Today, I'm launching a web site for my project: http://www.greatsuppression.ca .

There's a huge turnout gap between homeowners and renters. The conventional explanation is that this is a positive effect on homeowners, who are motivated to protect the value of their property.

This “homevoter” hypothesis was developed by William Fischel. I think it explains some but not all of why there’s such a large housing tenure gap.

Instead of just one effect, I think there are two effects: one positive on homeowners and one negative in renters.

And it’s the combined -ve effect of institutions (who can vote, how lists are made, electoral boundaries, electoral systems, who gets what info) that’s missing.

Why does this matter? Because there are big differences between homeowners and renters.

In Canada, renters are younger, poorer, darker-skinned, more likely to be in core housing need and more likely to live in urban areas.

If the rules are biased against them, that’s a problem.