In recent years, based on the principle of“providing proper, multi-layer and multi-formsecurity service” , Tianjin has tried to make upfor the deficiency in the market mechanismthrough making policies and resourcing publicfinance to speed up the construction of housingsecurity system. So far, four programs havebeen established, including low-rent housing,economically applicable housing, economicalrenthousing and ceiling-priced commercialhousing, in order to meet different demands ofpeople at different income levels.

The housing security undertaking took offcomparatively early in Tianjin. So far the lowrenthousing program has been established,benefiting 29,000 households presently. Accordingto the plan, in five years, the number ofhouseholds benefiting from the low-rent housingprogram will reach 100,000, with the totalinvestment to exceed RMB 2.8 billion yuan.

In order to meet different demands of lowincomefamilies, low-rent housing program willinclude three security forms: firstly, the governmentwill provide house for rent, which claimsa monthly rent of only RMB one yuan for persquare meter. Secondly, the government willprovide rent allowance to allow low-incomefamilies with monthly income lower than RMB600 yuan and average living space per capitasmaller than 7.5 square meters to rent otherdwellings by themselves. Thirdly, the families,which rent public-owned dwellings and areon basic living allowance, will have their rentreduced. The reduced rent is half of that of thepresent public-owned dwellings.

Since 2003, Tianjin has invested 1.3 billion yuanand built more than 7,000 low-rent units witha total area of 480,000 square meters. In thefuture five years, another 1.35 billion yuan willbe resourced to build 1,000 low-rent dwellingsevery year. It is estimated that there will be upto 7,000 households renting the low-rent units.

At the same time, Tianjin has so far providedsubsidies totally up to RMB 20 million yuan.The city plans to subsidize another 1.4 billionyuan in the future five years to benefit a totalof 70,000 families.

Economically applicable housing program forpeople in the lower and middle income bracketsis also underway. Since 2005, Tianjin hasinvested RMB 8.5 billion yuan to provide thepeople with 140,000 economically applicableunits, of a total area of 9 million square meters.The government plans to offer 62,300 unitsof 3.8 million square meters this year. In fiveyears, it will spend RMB 17 billion yuan to build276,800 economically applicable units of 17.9million square meters.

The “sandwich” group faces an awkward situation,since they have an income level somewherebetween the low-income families and themiddle- and lower-income families and are notable to rent low-rent houses or afford economicalapplicable houses. For this group, the Tianjingovernment offers rent subsidy to help improvetheir living conditions. The amount of the subsidyis adjusted based on the market rent leveland maintains approximately half of the marketlevel. Since 2004, up to 4,000 families have benefitedfrom this program. In the future five years,the government will spend RMB 170 millionyuan to help up to 7,000 families.

At the same time, Tianjin is beginning to establishthe ceiling-priced commercial housingprogram for middle- and lower-income families.The price of the ceiling-priced commercialdwellings is checked and ratified by the government.The basic principle is that the price willbe lower by 20 percent than the price of similardwellings in the same or neighboring areasthree months before the assessment of thehouse. In 2008, Tianjin plans to offer 20,000units of 1.5 million square meters.

In order to make sure the sustainability of thesecurity-housing construction, Tianjin hasalso made estimation, concerning the securityhousing demand in the future and made fiveyearplan and annual plan for the period from2008 to 2012, giving clear policy direction andmaking arrangement in a more scientific andholistic way. Till the year of 2012, the governmentwill spend RMB 20 billion yuan to benefitanother 450,000 households.