The development of public housing in China

【Abstract】： In China， public housing is regard as a potential housing remedy to people with low housing affordability. The emergence of public housing purchase schemes in China have already attracted many attentions and this paper will discuss the development of public housing and purchase schemes in China.

【Key words】： purchase scheme， public rental housing， privatisation

In the Chinese mainland， there are three main kinds of public housing including public rental housing， low-rent housing and economically applicable housing （Haijin 2009）[1]. The public rental housing is the most popular and typical among the three social housing properties because the flexible policies of public rental housing can better meet the needs of more middle-income people.

In recent years， with the promotion of privatisation， a tendency of public housing purchase schemes appeared in some districts in China （Xi， 2011） [2]. Since privatization of public housing is a very broad subject， it attracts investigations from different perspectives. Chiu （1993） [3] studied planning and policy issues of the privatization of public housing while policy alternatives were proposed in. Ho （1994） [4] and Wong （1998） [5] discussed recommendations for privatization implementation. Wah （2000） [6] and Grange （1998） [7] examined the impacts of privatization policy and home ownership on equity. In addition， Grange （1999） [8] analyzed privatization of public housing under the welfare regime framework of a ‘tiger’ economy. Jin （2004） [9]concluded that process of housing privatization is inevitable， which have an importance social and economic significance in China. The introduction of those purchase schemes can greatly promote housing privatization. Nevertheless， The public housing purchase scheme is still relatively new in China， compared to other countries and cities that have introduced this policy decades previously. Chongqing， as the one of China’s municipalities， is the first to introduce a tenant purchase proposal in the district government document Temporal Method of Chongqing Public Housing Management （2010）. Essentially， Chongqing government has still not introduced the details of the public housing purchase schemes such as price making， resale policy.

Although formal document of purchase scheme have not introduced yet， Temporal Method of Chongqing Public Housing Management can help tenants better understand the purchase scheme to make purchase decisions. The purchase scheme have gained many attention since it is proposed in 2011. In 2012， Xie and Liu [10] mentioned that it is important to make reasonable selling price that fit market demands because the restriction of housing property and it is hard to predict the housing demands. Yang （2014） [11] believed purchase scheme could only ease financial pressure in a short term with the decrease of a large amount of public houses. If government continues to build public housing to meet the needs of other tenants in future， more money will be invested， which can bring more financial pressure in a long term. Shan et al. （2014） [12]calculated that if government wants get the enough fund back as expected， there should be around 42.5% sold to tenants. They advised that government should concern rational allocation rate and selling price of commercial facilities to reduce the proportion of public housing sold to tenants. Meanwhile they also regard it is unreasonable to sale public housing with limited housing property on the perspective of tenants. Tang （2012） [13]summarized that bear the pressure of the public housing loan， in the end how much sales and sales speed， still need to be verified by the market.

Works Cited

[1] Haijin， W. U. 2009. A Rearch on the Housing Support Problems of the Migrants During the Movement of Urbanization——Also on the Problem of Striving the Public Rental Housing System. Urban Studies 12， pp.82-85.

[2] Xi Li. 2011. Public Rental Housing Development in China

[3] Chiu， R.L. 1993， August. Privatization of public housing in Hong Kong： Planning and policy issues. In Conference on planning for a better living environment in Asia， second international congress of Asian planning schools， Hong Kong.

[4] Ho， L.S. 1994. Privatisation of public housing： An analysis of policy alternatives. Chinese University of Hong Kong， Department of Economics.

[5] Wong， R. Y. 1998. On privatizing public housing.

[6] Wah， C. K. 2000. Prosperity or inequality： deconstructing the myth of home ownership in Hong Kong. Housing Studies 15（1）， pp.28-43.

[7] Grange， A. L. 1998. Privatising public housing in Hong Kong： its impact on equity. Housing Studies 13（4）， pp. 507-525.

[8] Grange， A. L. 1999. Privatizing public housing in the welfare regime of a tiger economy： A case study of Hong Kong. Housing， Theory and Society 16（1）， pp. 17-30.

[9] Jin， Y. 2014. Study on the applicability of the internal space of public rental housing. Doctoral dissertation， Jiangxi Normal University. （In Chinese）

[10] Xie， D. H. and Liu， J. H. 2012. Discussion on the operation mode of public rental housing in Chongqing. China Real Estate （5）， pp.67-69. （In Chinese）

Yang， X. M. 2014. Research on sustainable development of public rental housing supply in Chongqing based on prevention and control of debt crisis. West Forum （2）， pp.76-83. （In Chinese）

[11] Yang， X. M. 2014. Research on sustainable development of public rental housing supply in Chongqing based on prevention and control of debt crisis. West Forum （2）， pp.76-83. （In Chinese）

[12] Shan， X. Q. et al. 2014. Property right structure design of public rental housing based on three party satisfaction -- a case study of Chongqing City. Construction Economics 35（12）， pp.65-69. （In Chinese）

[13] Tang， H. Y. 2012. \"sale after rent\" -- the debate on the investment income model of public rental housing. Information of China Construction （23）， pp. 28-30. （In Chinese）