The Housing and Urban/Rural Construction Committee of the Beijing municipal government said in mid-June that all subsidized housing projects would begin construction by the end of September, two months ahead of the national deadline set by the central government. The provincial governments of Hebei, Yunnan and Gansu made similar promises.

By the end of May 3.4 million subsidized housing units were under construction, only 34 percent of the total planned for this year. Obviously all local governments need to speed up the projects if they are to follow the plan to start building 10 million units by the end of November to the letter.

Some experts and scholars have suggested that local governments on the mainland should learn from their Hong Kong counterpart on how to maintain the quality of subsidized apartments, fair distribution and proper guidance of residents to make sensible housing demands.

Subsidized housing development on the mainland is faced with several tough problems this year, particularly a yawning gap in funding. There are also a few deeper obstacles. For example, there is the unreasonable structure of the supply chain, and the poor supervision and management of subsidized housing developments. There is only one channel for financing, which is unsustainable, and the subsidized apartments are of poor quality.

To solve these problems, some mainland researchers have suggested that provincial and municipal governments can take a page or two from Hong Kong's experience in public housing development and management.

Close to one-third of Hong Kong residents, or more than two million, live in public housing units today. Such estates are an integral part of the city's social welfare system, providing needy families with a roof over their heads and some of the financially-challenged with a temporary shelter before they are able to obtain bank loans for buying their own homes.

The SAR has set a perfect example in public housing development and management on all accounts for mainland cities and provinces, but the best lesson is keeping the system open and transparent from the perspectives of planning, financing, quality control and fair allocation and maintenance.

The author is a mainland-based writer. This is a translation excerpted from his article published in the July issue of Bauhinia magazine.

(HK Edition 07/07/2011 page3)