Editor Joyce Yanyun Man's China's Housing Reform and Outcomes is a thought-provoking book of interest to China scholars, international planning specialists, and housing policy experts. The volume is a collection of papers written in English by American and Chinese scholars. Some were presented at a 2009 conference, while others were prepared with the support of a joint initiative of the Peking University and the Lincoln Institute Center for Urban Development and Land Policy. The book is composed of four sections and provides a glimpse into the rapidly changing housing policy environment in China. Part I covers the evolution of housing policy in the past 30 years. Part II covers land use and the fiscal dimensions of housing markets, highlighting the inequalities created by the rural–urban divide, while Part III focuses on low-income housing policy challenges. Part IV reviews public housing in the United States and social housing in Britain and draws policy lessons for China.
A highlight of the volume is Man, Zheng, and Ren's overview chapter in Part I, where the authors explain that the end of China's cultural revolution in 1976 marked the beginning of housing reform in the country. Prior to 1978, private housing was nationalized and public housing was distributed through work units (danwei). Since 1978, China has been in transition from a centrally planned housing distribution system to a market-oriented allocation system, which involves the privatization of state-owned housing stock. Government provided strong incentives for homeownership through two subsidized housing programs: 1) the Economical and Comfortable Housing Program (ECH) and 2) Mandatory Housing Provident Funds (HPF) administered by local governments. Employees, mainly in the public sector, contribute to the funds through salary deductions (around 5%) and can access low-cost mortgage loans for home purchase, repairs, and construction.
As a result of these changes, Chinese cities saw a rise in the percentage of owner occupants, and homeownership reached 84.3% percent in 2010. Furthermore, China's rapid export-oriented economic expansion (averaging 10% annual growth) fueled a building boom. The residential mortgage market is rapidly expanding, although the Chinese government expands or contracts mortgage availability depending on market froth or economic concerns (Bardhan, Edelstein, & Kroll, 20111. Bardhan , A. , Edelstein , R. H. and Kroll , C. 2011 . Global housing: Crises, policies, and institutions , Hoboken , NJ : John Wiley & Sons ). Since 2005, the main concern raised by Chinese scholars has been the rapid rise in house prices and the resulting decline in affordability, especially in large cities and coastal areas in the east. In 2007, housing prices in Shenzhen, Beijing, and Chonqqing increased 19.5%, 15.1%, and 10.2%, respectively, in a single year. Such rapid growth in real estate prices also stirs fears of a property bubble among investors who watch capital markets in Asia because it has the potential to deepen the current global recession.
The volume is comprised of 13 chapters written individually or in teams by 21 authors. While the contributors to the volume provide different insights and policy solutions, they converge on one significant policy concern, the sharp inequality among different income groups and across geographic regions in housing consumption, wealth, and affordability. This inequality is deeply rooted in China's registration system (hukou), which dates back to the 1950s and regulates migration by registering people by their hometown origin and by urban versus rural status. The contributors to the volume make it clear that the post-1978 housing reforms have reinforced existing inequalities. Rural migrants receive no housing support from the government unless they obtain urban hukou through employment. They live in poor-quality rental housing in the so-called urban villages.
As the chapter by Angel, Valdivia, and Lutzy shows, the policy of severely restricting the conversion of agricultural land to urban uses to protect food security has created fragmented development at the urban fringe. The landscape is dotted with urban villages populated by rural migrants, the villages reminiscent of informal housing settlements seen in much of the developing world. These villages are built by indigenous farmers on collectively owned rural land. As Song's chapter argues, planning is hampered in part because the governance of urban villages falls under the rural administrative system, which allows construction of substandard housing for new arrivals from rural areas. The poor living conditions in urban villages and their integration into the rest of the city warrant attention as well as affordable rental housing needs of poor migrants.
China's Housing Reform and Outcomes captures a fascinating moment in China's housing policy evolution and is an important resource for housing policy analysts, academics, and students of China and housing policy worldwide.
References: 1. Bardhan, A., Edelstein, R. H. and Kroll, C. 2011 . Global housing: Crises, policies, and institutions , Hoboken , NJ : John Wiley & Sons .
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