China will put in place a new policy aimed at boosting housing subsidies for poor urban residents, Xie Jiajin, director-general of the Department of Housing and Real Estate Industry of the Ministry of Construction, said Tuesday.

The new policy, effective as of March 1, 2004, will replace an older one issued in 1999, greatly increasing the coverage and funding of the housing for the poor program.

Xie told a national meeting held in Beijing that the government will expand the coverage of housing subsidies for the poor from medium- and large-sized cities to counties.

She said the government would provide the lion's share of the funding for the construction of housing for poor families in cities. At the same time, she said the housing for the poor program will also use funds from various non-government sectors.

China now has a total of 21.8 million people living under the poverty line in its cities. In Beijing and Shanghai, the two largest cities in China, more than 20,000 poor families lack adequate housing. The per-capita housing area of these poor urban families was less than five square meters, compared with the national average of 23 square meters.

According to the new policy, the government will offer cash as the main form of subsidy to the poor families, instead of providing them with housing or rent reimbursement. Xie said the move is aimed to provide housing assistance to the largest possible number of poor urban residents with limited government resources.

Xie said the government has raised the amount of subsidies in order to meet the basic housing needs of poor urban residents. Since Chinese cities have adopted different standards in providing housing for the poor, the new policy sets a maximum level of housing for poor residents in all cities.

Xie said poor urban residents will receive subsidies for the housing area that is up to 60 percent of the local average.

Xie said the housing for the poor program is one of the measures that the Chinese government has adopted to help the disadvantaged groups. In the next step, the government will consider housing assistance to rural laborers in cities and urban residents living just above the subsistence line.

(Xinhua News Agency February 11, 2004)