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Low-income Housing in Chinese Cities: Policies and Practices*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 January 2013

Youqin Huang
Youqin Huang*
Affiliation:
SUNY at Albany. Email: yhuang@albany.edu.
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Abstract

This paper argues that the low-income housing programme in China has so far failed to provide adequate housing for the poor for three main reasons: the central government's failure to define a clear mission; a lack of commitment from local governments; and an exclusionary policy towards migrants. A systematic review of low-income housing policy in China shows that the central government juggles its economic and socio-political goals thereby causing constant changes in low-income housing policy. Meanwhile, the existing public finance system, the performance evaluation system and localization in policy implementation have all resulted in a lack of commitment from local governments to low-income housing. Inadequate provision is made worse by problems with allocation. Despite encouraging changes since 2010, many factors underlying the government's failures remain unchanged, thus the fate of low-income housing remains uncertain.

Keywords

low-income housinghousing policyhousinggovernment failureChina
Type
Articles
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 212 , December 2012 , pp. 941 - 964
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 2012 

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Footnotes

*

The author is grateful for a visiting research fellowship in 2009 offered by Peking University-Lincoln Institute Center of Urban Development and Land Policy (PLC), which allowed the author to conduct part of the research for this paper.

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