Not well designed to meet its policy targets, the current low-price housing system should be revised, says a signed article in China Youth Daily. An excerpt follows:

Mao Yushi, a renowned Chinese economist, criticized the country's low-price housing system saying that the State has subsidized low-price housing which only accommodated better-off families since low-income earners could not afford these houses.

The low-price housing system has been in operation for nearly a decade, but few of those living in such houses are from the low-income group the government wanted to take care of.

But the low-price housing system is never revised despite public doubts and academic criticism.

The current low-price housing system also leaves room for officials who want to manipulate the system for their own benefits. There was a report that a city built a "low-price housing community" specially for local officials.

The public still has high hopes for the low-price housing system. Most people believe the advantages of the system outweigh the disadvantages.

As housing prices keep climbing, it is only natural for people to welcome low-price housing without noticing that the system can nurture corruption and hurt the public interest.

But such facts should not be ignored by the decision makers and a timely improvement is needed.

(China Daily January 17, 2007)