Public-rental Houses Available for Migrant Workers to Rent（在线收听）

During the recent State Council meeting, Chinese policymakers vowed to boost efforts to build more subsidized apartments for low-income residents. The policy emphasizes that migrant workers in cities across the country are encouraged to apply for low-rental housing.

Let's take a closer look with reporter Liu Min.

 
The policy says public-rental housing program mainly is for low and middle income households, newly employed urban workers and migrant workers who have stable jobs in the city. The average accommodation space per apartment is around 40 square meters, with the rental fees lower than the market prices. Some migrant workers were quite happy to learn about this news.

"It's quite nice if we could live in lower-rental houses, and plus it belongs to the state, with better living and safety standards."

"Of course it'd be perfect if we could move in to a better place at cheaper prices."

In Beijing, the public-rental houses are divided into four types of apartments based on the size, ranging from 30 to 60 square meters.

Financially, the Beijing municipal government has established an investment center to support government-subsidized housing construction. The local government invested more than 10 billion yuan this June, and they promise to take 10 percent of the profits made from land rental fees across the city every year to continuously inject financial support into these kinds of housing projects.

One migrant worker in Beijing says he that he might apply for a public-rental apartment later.

"I now live with another six people in one dormitory provided by our factory. It's not very convenient if my family visits me. There's a whole lot of mess in the dorm. I hope I can also enjoy the public-rental houses one day."

For some migrant workers, living in public-rental houses is not a dream. Feng Yujiao from Guangdong province has been working in the city of Changzhou for several years. The local policy has relaxed for migrant worker applicants since last year. She tried to apply for a single room for herself through her company, she got the keys one week later.

"I was amazed when I moved in. The home appliances are all prepared in the apartment, including the refrigerator, wardrobe, bookshelf, bed, air conditioner, washing machine, and water heater. I needed to spend at least 800 yuan to rent before, but now I only need 400 yuan per month to live in a public-rental house."

Many migrant workers are happy to learn about the policy for migrant workers on public-rental housing, but whether it can be efficiently implemented is still a question in their minds.

"The only thing I worry about is whether we would be equally treated by the government when they face many applications including both migrant workers and local applicants."

Such worries are quite reasonable since there have been some instances of corruption relating to government subsidized housing. For example, in some cases wealthy people have been able to live in subsidized houses, despite driving luxury cars.

The central government has pointed out that the management over public-rental houses has to be strict and consistent. The administrative system has to define when the tenants need to move in and out. Instances where houses are rented for personal profit should be punished financially in a very severe way to make sure all applicants and tenants are treated appropriately.

For CRI, I'm Liu Min.