Local governments' mania to reap financial and political gains
must be checked to get everyone properly sheltered, says a
commentary in Nanfang Metropolis News. An excerpt
follows:
Wang Guangtao, minister of construction, remarked at an
international forum that shelter is a fundamental right of human
beings and "everybody in China would enjoy proper housing."
The government stressed that the housing reform aims at getting
proper housing for the needy. A plan was worked out that low-priced
houses and low-rent apartments would be developed along with
higher-end housing.
However, many people still find it hard to get housing. A large
proportion of urban dwellers are burdened with heavy loans for
housing mortgages. The low-price and low-rent housing does not
reach low-income citizens.
By the end of last year, 145 cities in China did not have any
low-rent housing. And the land designated for building the low-rent
housing is actually shrinking.
When the supply of low-rent housing increases by 5 percent, the
average housing estate price will drop by 3 to 4 percent. It is
obvious why the localities are unwilling to see the rise in the
supply of low-rent housing.
In this process, when the property prices keep roaring upward
despite the public call for affordable housing, local officials are
seeing bright records of their achievements while low-income people
are left hoping in vain for housing.
Both the rocketing property prices and the slowness in providing
low-rent housing result from the local governments' pursuit of
financial benefits. It is also the origin of many other problems
troubling the property industry and a root cause for destroying
citizens' right to shelter.
(China Daily May 22, 2007)