Many benefits of a grand plan for affordable housing

The Chinese government has recently announced two surprisingly encouraging figures on the construction of housing to meet the needs of those living on the lower rungs of the social ladder.

Last year, China announced that it will have constructed about 40 million welfare apartments from 2011 to 2015, surpassing its previous target of 36 million for the five years. The construction pace has been greatly accelerated, compared with the total of 15 million such apartments built during the period from 2006 to 2010.

The Chinese government said it had also renovated 21 million dilapidated houses in the "rust belts" of old industrial cities and the "villages in the cities" nationwide by the end of 2014. And it will continue such efforts by renovating 18 million such apartments over the next two years.