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Affordable houses for all, especially urban families in the low- to moderate-income brackets, are a key tenet of State policy.
In fact, jingji shiyong fang guarantees inexpensive accommodation for the country's urban poor.
Such apartments are exempt from land transfer fee, believed by some to be the chief driver of realty prices.
Existing rules do not preclude government employees from benefiting from the scheme, and local authorities have considerable leeway to allot apartments to whomsoever they deem fit.
Yet, the primary beneficiaries should be residents unable to afford houses at prevailing market rates. These may include low wage earning government officials as well.
However, that does not mean these government functionaries can appropriate these houses simply because they have better access to resources meant for the public.
It is this context that the decision of officials in Meixian county, Shaanxi province, to assign 409 out of an initial batch of 601 "jingji shiyong fang" to Party and government employees caused uproar.
The widespread anger against misappropriation has led to local officials setting aside the decision.
The illicit allotment has defeated the very purpose behind government-subsidized housing projects.
The worrying development may also be an indicator of a broader phenomenon of local officials misusing State-sponsored public welfare schemes for their own ends.
If so, it is a blow to government credibility as well as the efficacy of well-conceived national policies.
(China Daily 05/21/2010 page8)