Shanghai's top advisory body said yesterday that Shanghai's housing policy could learn a lot from overseas developed nations.

Shanghai should look abroad to work out flexible schemes to help residents improve their living conditions, members of the Shanghai Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference said.

"Some affordable housing measures currently in use in Singapore, for example, should be studied by our housing watchdog," Wang Xinkui, vice chairman of the CPPCC Shanghai Committee, told a conference yesterday. "New ideas about relocations, the renovation of old housing, and low-rent home-leasing programs should be worked out as soon as possible."

Hong Kong also has many useful examples for local housing policy makers, specifically ensuring that everyone has equal access to housing resources, other committee members said.

By the end of 2007, renovations were needed by around 8.74 million square meters of old housing, involving about 400,000 families, according to the Shanghai Municipal Housing, Land and Resource Administration Bureau.

Residents in such housing often have to share water taps, electricity and toilets with their neighbors.

Shanghai launched citywide renovations of old homes in the early 1990s. So far, more than 20 million square meters have been renovated, affecting more than 1 million families.

(Shanghai Daily December 5, 2008)