China is to speed up the solution to the housing problem for low-income families in 2009. The plan will solve 2.6 million families' problems, said Qi Ji, vice minister of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of China (MOHURD) during a press conference in Beijing on Wednesday.

The government will provide about 70 percent of the houses to achieve the goal, and the rest will be in the form of rental subsides.

Qi said China will increase the supply of the low-rent housing and affordable housing, promote the rebuilding of shanty towns and dangerous buildings in rural areas so as to improve the housing guarantee system.

China will invest 33 billion yuan to be used in the establishment of low-rent income system and will guarantee the implementation of policy from the fund for land and housing. In addition, the bond to be issued in the local government will also be used in the system for establishing the low-rent housing and affordable comfortable housing projects.

Qi also urged the local governments to strengthen their responsibility to complete the task and guarantee the quality of the project.

China invested over 30 billion yuan in low-rent housing and some 63,000 low-rent housing units are being built.

(People's Daily Online March 11, 2009)