City invites migrants to move into cheap public housing units

SHANGHAI/BEIJING - Migrant workers with low incomes can apply to live in cheap public housing in Shanghai as part of city officials plan to help them cope with the increasing cost of rent, officials announced on Wednesday.

During the next five years, the Shanghai government will build more low-rent residences, said Pang Yuan, deputy director of the city's housing security and management bureau. He said migrant workers and other people without hukou, or permanent residence permits, will be able to move into them.

And starting in October, Shanghai plans to perform more thorough checks of apartments in which single rooms are rented out as separate units, an arrangement that is often popular among migrant workers. The campaign comes in response to concerns about what is perceived to be a lack of safety and security in such places.