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affordable housing is an important part of my country's housing supply system. planning and building affordable housing is a major reform to improve the housing system and supply system and reconstruct the relationship between the market and security. the "14th five-year plan" outline proposes to expand the supply of affordable rental housing and focus on solving the housing problems of disadvantaged groups and new citizens. the third plenary session of the 20th cpc central committee proposed to increase the construction and supply of affordable housing. this issue invites experts to discuss related issues.

a diversified housing security system has basically taken shape

which groups are the focus of housing security? what housing security policies has my country adopted in different periods? what kind of housing security system has been formed?

qin hong (director of the urban renewal research center of the national school of development at renmin university of china): my country has always attached great importance to housing security, and the recipients of housing security vary with changes in security policies. generally speaking, my country's housing security is provided at three levels: relief, assistance, and mutual assistance.

relief protection is a bottom-line rental protection, targeting the group of registered urban residents with very low income and housing difficulties, who rent low-rent housing at extremely low rents. from 1999 to 2007, the "management measures for urban low-rent housing", "management measures for low-rent housing for urban minimum income families" and "measures for low-rent housing security" were successively issued. in 2014, low-rent housing was incorporated into the public rental housing policy. during the implementation process, different rents were paid according to different family incomes. this group is still the key relief target.

assistance security is a supportive security provided by the government to the lower-middle income groups with housing difficulties. unlike relief security, assistance security has two forms: renting and purchasing. most of the cost is paid by the beneficiaries, and the difference is subsidized or discounted by the government. after the deepening of the urban housing system reform in 1998, the affordable housing, public rental housing, two-limit housing, shared property housing, affordable housing projects, affordable rental housing, and affordable housing all belong to this type of security. both relief and assistance security include two forms: in-kind security and monetary subsidies.

mutual assistance is mainly provided by housing provident funds. employees who pay housing provident funds are also insured persons. when purchasing or renting houses, they can use provident fund loans and payments. provident funds are exempt from income tax and loans are subject to low interest rate policies. the "housing provident fund management regulations" were issued in 1999 and revised in 2019. in 2023, the number of people who actually paid housing provident funds nationwide exceeded 170 million. by the end of 2023, the total amount of housing provident fund deposits was 29.2 trillion yuan, and a total of 47.6854 million housing provident fund personal housing loans worth 1,518.5801 billion yuan had been issued.

in different development periods, the focus of my country's housing security policy has been different. in 1998, the state council issued the "notice on further deepening the reform of the urban housing system and accelerating housing construction", which clearly stated that "a multi-level urban housing supply system with economically affordable housing as the main focus should be established and improved". at this time, economically affordable housing was the most extensive and main way to solve the housing needs of urban families. in 2003, the housing market was in its infancy. the "notice of the state council on promoting the sustainable and healthy development of the real estate market" proposed to "increase the supply of ordinary commodity housing" and "gradually realize that most families purchase or rent ordinary commodity housing". economically affordable housing was defined as "policy-based commodity housing with a security nature". compared with the previous period, the supply category of ordinary commodity housing has been increased, the scope of economically affordable housing has been narrowed and limited, and the principle of low-rent security requirements is mainly to issue rental subsidies. in 2007, housing prices in some large cities rose rapidly. the "several opinions of the state council on solving the housing difficulties of low-income families in cities" was issued, proposing to "accelerate the establishment and improvement of a policy system with a focus on the low-rent housing system and multiple channels to solve the housing difficulties of low-income families in cities", and clearly stated that the supply of economically affordable housing is for low-income families in cities with housing difficulties, and the transfer conditions have been clearly regulated. from targeting "middle- and low-income families" to targeting "low-income families with housing difficulties", the security nature of affordable housing has been further clarified.

in 2008, in response to the impact of the international financial crisis, the cpc central committee and the state council proposed to accelerate the construction of affordable housing projects, comprehensively promote the transformation of shantytowns in cities and state-owned industrial and mining areas, and incorporate shantytown transformation into the security system. since then, the "guiding opinions on promoting the transformation of shantytowns in cities and state-owned industrial and mining areas" and the "opinions of the state council on accelerating the transformation of shantytowns" have been successively issued, incorporating shantytown transformation into urban affordable housing projects and promoting their implementation on a large scale.

in 2010, in order to meet the basic housing needs of lower-middle-income families in cities, seven departments jointly formulated the "guiding opinions on accelerating the development of public rental housing", proposing to vigorously develop public rental housing and for the first time including migrant workers in the scope of protection. in 2012, the "regulations on the management of public rental housing" further clarified that migrant workers with stable employment in cities and towns can rent public rental housing. according to the data of the "seventh national census", in 2020, 3.4% of urban households lived in public rental housing. at the same time, various places also phased in the introduction of two-limit housing and shared-ownership housing. for example, in 2014, six cities including beijing, shanghai, shenzhen, chengdu, huangshi and huai'an carried out pilot projects for shared-ownership housing. as of the end of 2021, beijing has accumulated about 83,000 shared-ownership housing. at present, shanghai and beijing still have shared-ownership housing supply.

adhering to the positioning of "housing for living, not for speculation", in 2021, the general office of the state council issued the "opinions on accelerating the development of affordable rental housing", which for the first time clarified the "housing security system with public rental housing, affordable rental housing and shared-ownership housing as the main body". all localities have stepped up efforts to prepare for the construction of affordable rental housing. shanghai, guangzhou, chengdu, hangzhou, xi'an and other places have proposed that during the "14th five-year plan" period, they will strive to increase the proportion of new affordable rental housing to more than 30% of the total new housing supply during the same period. in august 2023, the state council executive meeting reviewed and approved the "guiding opinions on planning and building affordable housing", supporting large cities with a permanent urban population of more than 3 million to take the lead in exploring and practicing, and implementing strict closed management of affordable housing. so far, my country has basically formed a diversified housing security system supported by renting, purchasing, subsidies and provident fund support. affordable housing is a people's project. in the future, the housing problems of wage-earning groups, new citizens, young people and other groups need to be further solved. there is still a long way to go to strengthen housing security legislation, continuously improve the housing security system, and increase support for housing security.

implement policies tailored to the city to accurately supply affordable housing

what specific measures have local governments taken to promote the construction of affordable housing in light of their actual conditions?

li yujia (chief researcher of guangdong housing policy research center): in the new era, my country has actively promoted structural reforms on the housing supply side and built a "market + guarantee" housing supply system. in terms of specific paths, it is clear that local governments should formulate policies based on their cities and explore sustainable development paths. on the one hand, the housing supply and demand relationship in various cities is basically balanced, but there are still problems such as structural supply shortages or mismatches between supply and demand; on the other hand, the target of protection is mainly new citizens, young people and other groups, and housing consumption has shifted to pay more attention to living experience, and demand has become more diversified and differentiated.

the scope of the protected population has expanded, housing consumption options have diversified, and it is difficult to match supply and demand. in the specific promotion process, each city has reflected its local characteristics.

one of the important features is that the construction of affordable housing is connected with industrial supporting facilities and rail transit. it is also an option to improve supply efficiency, achieve industrial-city integration, and balance between work and residence. for example, in cities such as jinan, fuzhou, and ningbo, many affordable housing projects are located around industrial parks, or are built to support industrial land, or are within 800 meters of rail transit. the central bank has set up a 100 billion yuan rental housing loan support plan, and the affordable rental housing acquired by the eight pilot cities is mostly located around the park and stations. of course, this involves adjusting the function of land use, that is, changing it to residential use, and then promoting the allocation of supply. some cities, such as guangzhou and shenzhen, combine the "land-making model" with the transformation of urban villages. under the new model of "net land transfer and district coordination", a certain proportion of the vacated land is designated for the construction of affordable housing. however, the transformation cycle of urban villages under the leadership of the government is relatively long, generally taking more than 5 years, and there is uncertainty as to whether the funds can be balanced.

in the process of planning and building a new round of affordable housing, state-owned enterprises play a leading role. some cities have established companies dedicated to the investment, construction, operation and management of affordable housing. shenzhen, guangzhou, xiamen, nanjing and other cities have established housing housing groups; fuzhou and zhengzhou have established housing housing secondary companies under the urban investment group and urban development group; chongqing's affordable rental housing is undertaken by state-owned enterprise platforms.

in terms of fund coordination and balance, the allocation of land can greatly reduce land costs, but the land consolidation costs vary greatly. due to the differences in the land cover, municipal facilities in place, acquisition time, and consolidation costs of different plots, some projects will suffer losses even if they are operated at a break-even price. therefore, some cities have explored the establishment of a coordinated funding pool for allocated land to balance the difference between the price of allocated land for the project and the actual land consolidation cost of the area, so as to achieve a comprehensive balance between projects.

to promote the construction of affordable housing, we must plan before we act, and we must act quickly and successfully. in terms of optimizing the approval and sales process, some cities have given full play to the overall coordination role of the leading group, state-owned enterprises have intervened in advance as construction units, and the special team has actively cooperated. during the period of adjustment of the control plan and the public announcement of the allocation, the scheme design, planning pre-examination, and project establishment are carried out in parallel. at the same time, policy banks have done a good job in project evaluation and pre-loan review, and non-major materials are accepted with missing materials. for example, the housing security department of zhengzhou city has initially built a talent apartment big data system that provides "one-stop" services from basic services such as application, house selection, and contract signing to repair and rental termination after moving in. applicants can not only browse the rental affordable housing sources online, as well as the subsequent construction and supply of housing arrangements, but also realize real-time online application through the "zhenghaoban app·one-stop zone·housing security one-stop·zhenghaozhu".

how to explore the purchase based on demand is difficult. some cities have established waiting lists, accepted pre-applications online and offline, and conducted questionnaire surveys to investigate the demands of the beneficiaries for location, apartment type, price range, etc., and will not start the construction until the pre-application demand accumulates to a certain extent, such as the "number of project sets: number of registered intentions" reaches 1:1.2 or above. for cities with a large influx of population and a large number of young people in the early stage, such as guangzhou, shenzhen, zhengzhou and other places, the pressure on the allocation of affordable housing is relatively small when the housing prices in the area are relatively stable and the early demand survey is in place.

at present, many new citizens and young people have little understanding of affordable housing. in addition, there are many supporting policies for affordable housing in terms of land use, construction, pricing, allocation and management. it is suggested that the "policy release + project launch" method can be used to make the brand of state-owned enterprises well known to the society, so as to promote the implementation of affordable housing projects. for cities, it is necessary to pay attention to the potential demand in the area, accurately grasp the characteristics of demand, and form differentiated competition with surrounding projects (price, supporting facilities, etc.). on may 17 this year, the national video conference on doing a good job in guaranteeing the delivery of houses proposed that in cities with a large inventory of commercial housing, the government can purchase some commercial housing at a reasonable price as affordable housing. on june 20, the ministry of housing and urban-rural development held a video conference on the acquisition of existing commercial housing for use as affordable housing, and clarified that "promote cities at or above the county level to carry out the acquisition of existing commercial housing for use as affordable housing in a strong, orderly and effective manner". affordable housing has been expanded to third- and fourth-tier cities and county towns, and the guarantee has been further strengthened. in the future, "activating existing stocks through multiple channels + optimizing the efficiency of incremental supply" will become the main supply model. local governments will need to consider factors such as the actual demand for affordable housing and the inventory level of the commercial housing market based on the local real estate market conditions, and adhere to the principle of ordering based on demand and formulating policies based on the specific conditions of each city.

international reference for affordable housing construction

the urban housing problem is a global challenge. what useful explorations have various countries made in planning and building affordable housing?

yu xiaofen (president of china housing and real estate research institute, zhejiang university of technology): the urban housing problem is an inevitable product of the industrial revolution and urbanization. to solve this global problem, governments have shifted from passive relief to active relief, using a variety of methods to speed up the preparation and construction of affordable housing.

the first is the government-market acquisition model. taking south korea as an example, the supply of public housing is mainly increased through the affordable housing program. through market research, the government selects housing (usually apartments or multi-family houses) that meet the requirements in terms of location, area, and construction quality, and then negotiates the purchase conditions and prices with the homeowners or developers through public bidding or direct negotiation. after reaching an agreement, the two parties sign a purchase contract and pay the purchase price through the national housing fund or the public housing fund. after the property rights are transferred to the government, the acquired housing is necessary for renovation and repair to ensure that it is suitable for living, and then allocated to eligible low- and middle-income young people and families without houses through public application and evaluation procedures. at the same time, the government has taken a series of incentives to speed up the pace of acquisition, such as improving the evaluation method, reasonably improving the acquisition ceiling price and acquisition standards; introducing project financing guarantees for the proposed acquisition of new housing, and attracting more developers to participate through financial support or tax incentives; strengthening inter-departmental collaboration, simplifying the project approval process, and shortening the project cycle. through the government-market acquisition model, the supply of public housing in south korea has increased significantly in recent years, providing more housing options for low- and middle-income families. 35,000 units will be acquired in 2022 and about 50,000 units in 2023. in july this year, south korea released a new housing supply policy, reiterating the policy tone of expanding housing supply for young people and those without housing. it originally planned to supply 120,000 public rental housing units by next year by acquiring vacant housing. this time it decided to increase the supply scale by more than 10,000 units.

for example, the uk has provided affordable housing construction and management mainly through competitive financial subsidies, low-cost land and financing support, relying on non-profit organizations - housing associations since 1980.

the second is the government's direct new construction model. singapore is the most representative. the housing and development board (hdb), established in 1960, is responsible for the planning, construction and management of low-priced public housing for eligible residents. in 2022, 77.76% of households lived in public housing, and their average sales price was about 30% of the average price of market apartments. the average house price-to-income ratio of households purchasing public housing was about 4.9, which effectively guaranteed the realization of the national housing ownership rate of 90% and the goal of a decent house for each household. the government's direct construction of affordable housing needs to solve two key issues: low-cost land and funds. singapore's land acquisition act guarantees the government's low cost and volume of land acquisition, and transfers it to hdb at a fair price. for example, the residential land area of ​​​​a residential land on ang mo kio avenue provided by the government in 2021 is about 22,020 square meters, with a plot ratio of 2.8 and a floor price of 6,494 singapore dollars per square meter, which is more than 40% lower than the price of surrounding private residential land. at the same time, the government also supports hdb to raise low-cost funds through multiple channels. the central provident fund supports hdb in public housing construction by purchasing special bonds issued by the singapore government. hdb's fiscal budget is included in the national fiscal plan. in the 2022/2023 fiscal year, the government's "home ownership" program directly subsidizes 4.68 billion singapore dollars, an increase of more than 20% over 2021. in 2022, hdb issued three green bonds totaling 3.3 billion singapore dollars for housing construction and renovation projects. the reason why singapore can continue to build affordable housing is due to the strong low-cost land supply and financial support behind it.

the third is the developer-built model. malaysia, france and the united states have all adopted this model. since 1981, malaysia has required the construction of 30% affordable housing in each private residential development project and sold it at three times the median annual income of the target family. from 1981 to 2017, the private sector provided 1.2 million low-cost houses without financial subsidies, playing an important role in the supply of affordable housing. the government has high requirements for the quality of affordable housing and has made overall plans in terms of housing area, quality assessment, housing density, construction technology, and related supporting facilities. for example, in terms of construction technology, it requires the application of building information models, solid waste management, rainwater management and reuse systems, solar energy systems, wireless lans, etc.; in terms of supporting facilities, public facilities such as kindergartens, playgrounds, and multi-purpose halls are equipped according to the population ratio. through the developer-built model, malaysia's housing security coverage has been significantly improved. as of the end of the first quarter of 2024, various types of low-cost affordable housing accounted for about 24.43% of the stock.

french legislation stipulates that when some cities build any new apartment building with more than 12 units or a floor area of ​​more than 800 square meters, at least 30% of it shall be social rental housing for low-income families, and it is planned that social housing coverage will reach 25% by the end of 2025. the united states uses tax subsidies to attract private enterprises to build housing. in 1986, the low-income housing tax credit (lihtc) project was launched in accordance with the tax reform act (1986). according to the government-approved rent, 20% of the housing units will be rented to families with a household income of less than 50% of the local median income, or 40% of the housing units will be rented to families with a household income of less than 60% of the local median income. the project will last for 30 years. after strict review, developers can enjoy the 10-year tax credit policy granted by the federal government. the transfer and realization of tax credits can reach up to 60% to 70% of the construction cost. the government also provides long-term low-interest loan support, which is very attractive to private developers. data shows that in 2023, lihtc projects accounted for 2.49% of the residential stock, exceeding the number of government public housing and becoming an important source of affordable housing in the united states.