低租房计划

Lots of public complaints have focused on soaring property prices in major Chinese cities in recent years.

Most people with average incomes can't afford to buy new homes on the market, let alone the poor. So how can the government solve the housing crisis low-income earners are facing?

Lots of experts have suggested that the government needs to further develop low-rent housing projects.

Let's hear more from our reporter Zhou Jing. She investigates how the housing security policy has helped people and how it can be improved.

Reporter:

Eighty-year-old Zhang Baozheng in Beijing never dreamed that one day he could leave the tiny house where he had lived for over 40 years and move into a new building.

"My old house was only 12 square meters large, but was nonetheless shared by five people: my wife, our son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter. The living condition was very poor."

More than two years ago, he and his wife moved into a brand-new complex of three 14-storey buildings. It's Beijing's first low-rent housing project, located on the East Second Ring Road, not far from top hotels and plush condos that sell for over 10,000 yuan per square meter. The rent for Zhang's new apartment? Only 2.4 yuan or 30 US cents per square meter.

"I pay 130 yuan every month. I can afford it."

Zhang got this low-rent apartment thanks to his bravery in the anti-Japanese war, which left him handicapped. But being able to enjoy the rest of his life in such a good place, he feels very grateful.
 
"We are satisfied and grateful that we can live decently since we are getting old. Life here is quite convenient with shops just steps away. There is also a clinic on site."

Since Beijing initiated its low-rent housing scheme in 2001, it has provided low-rent housing for over 5,000 households and provided housing rent subsidies for more than 23,000 families. At the end of last year, the city had 152,000 residents with per-capita monthly incomes below 310 yuan. To them, purchasing housing of their own in Beijing, where average housing prices have soared to nearly 9,000 yuan per square meter, is nothing but an impossible dream. Settling the housing problems of all low-income families remains a difficult task for the local government.

A similar situation affects cities across China. According to official statistics, by the end of last year, only 53,000 low-rent apartments had been built in 512 cities, a meager 104 per city. These apartments are enough for only less than one percent of the country's low-income households.

Why is low-rent housing still so rare several years after it was unrolled across China?

"The booming real estate market has contributed a lot to the increase in local GDP. In building low-rent housing, governments actually spend rather than make money. That's why many local governments are reluctant to build low-rent housing."

Chen Zhendong is an economist from Hong Kong. His suggestion is to establish an independent housing committee to make a long-term housing plan for the country.

"China lacks an independent housing authority. In countries like the United States and Singapore, there is a national housing committee to lay out the country's housing development. Such a committee is composed of government officials, experts and representatives from among the residents. It decides how many commercial housing projects and how many low-rent housing units should be built every year to ensure everyone has a place to live."

Financing has always been a major factor that has hindered the development of low-rent housing. Famous economist Wu Jinlian suggested the government pay interest instead of putting all the money into developing low-rent housing at once.

"The government can pay interest. The investment of the housing project cannot only come from the government, but also from real estate developers. The government can then lease the apartments from developers. This way, the government can use comparatively smaller amount of money to start a big project."

The shortage of capital for low-rent housing is now being tackled by the central government. Last year, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Construction and the Ministry of Land and Resources jointly issued a circular requiring each city government to allocate at least 5 percent of its revenue from land leases to low-rent housing schemes. Construction Minister Wang Guangtao reconfirmed this policy recently.

"Just at the end of last year, the State Council decided that 5 percent of land transfer fees–a figure expected to reach 10 billion yuan–will be invested in building low-rent housing. We have urged local governments to strictly implement this policy."

"Cities still without a low-rent housing system should establish a system by the end of this year. Otherwise, action will be taken against these irresponsible local authorities."

The Beijing municipal government has claimed that it will build 300,000 square-meters of low-rent housing by the end of this year to improve the living conditions of 6,000 households. The government has also promised to purchase second-hand housing to provide low-rent accommodation for the city's urban poor.

Hopefully, more low-income families like Zhang Baozheng's can live in comfortable and affordable apartments soon.