A low-rent housing system tailored to low-income earners will cover all Chinese cities and towns this year, sources with the Ministry of Construction said on Thursday.

The sources said that by the end of 2006, 512 Chinese cities had established a low-rent housing system, accounting for 77.9 percent of the country's total of 657. Money used to build low-rent houses cumulated to 7.08 billion yuan (US$ 919.5 million) nationwide, nearly 50 percent more than the 2005 yearend level.

By the end of last year, 547,000 low-income families had benefited from the low-rent housing system. Of the total, 219,000 households joined the system in 2006, a growth of 66.6 percent from 2005, the sources said.

The system should cover the remaining 145 cities this year, according to a working agenda of the Ministry of Construction.

(Xinhua News Agency February 15, 2007)