At the 2002 Baotou International Conference on Financing SocialHousing, Liu Zhifeng, deputy minister of China's Ministry of Construction, said the Chinese government attaches great importance to guaranteeing the right to housing to families with medium or low income.

Liu said China has accelerated urban housing construction and reform, and has greatly improved the housing conditions for the families that have insufficient living space.

According to Liu, the housing conditions for Chinese people lagbehind developed countries. He said the Chinese government will exert more efforts to improve housing conditions.

The standards for low-income varies according to country and region. For instance, the households with an average annual incomebelow 60,000 yuan (about 7,200 U.S. dollars) are rated as medium- and low-income households. In Inner Mongolia, this figure can fallbelow 30,000 yuan.

Daniel Biau, AG. deputy executive director of the Global Division UN-habitat, said every country's government should offer more housing loans to those in need, and eliminate gender and racial discriminations in their housing policy.

Zhou Weide, deputy chairman of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, said China's local governments have realized that the medium- and low-income households' housing conditions will directly influence social stability and economic development.

Han Zhiran, mayor of Baotou, said though almost all the bungalows in the city were toppled during an earthquake in 1996, the municipal government has since mobilized people to build many "economy buildings" with an total construction area of 13 million square km.

Baotou is regarded as an outstanding model for improving housing conditions among cities worldwide, and its experiences have been appreciated worldwide.

The three-day conference is co-sponsored by UN-Habitat, the China's Ministry of Construction and the Baotou city government.

( August 7, 2002)