The Standing Committee of Beijing Municipal People's Congress said the city will build or buy 500,000 square meters of public rental houses this year at a special investigation meeting Thursday, the Beijing News reported.

Public rental houses are designated for medium low-income families, also known as the "sandwich layer," who cannot afford to buy commercial houses but who are also ineligible to purchase economically affordable houses or enjoy low-cost rental houses.

Officials said that graduates and migrant workers-who don't have Beijing household registration-also can benefit from the public rental houses. Single youth under 30 with an income of less than 88,000 yuan (US$12,870) are also on the list. In the past, only people with Beijing household registration could enjoy the government-supplied houses.

Rent for the public rental houses will be higher than that of low-cost rental houses and will be fully paid by renters. The capital funds invested in public rental houses will be regained by the government, unlike low-cost rental houses whose expenses are paid mostly by the government.

The housing guarantee system has been set up with the launch of public rental houses. Beijing is facing a housing shortage, with pressure to find space for 280,000 more households in three years.

(China.org.cn by Li Xiaohua June 19, 2009)