Local govts obliged to build up 'housing pensions'

The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development said recently it is studying the feasibility of a system for housing maintenance that comprises a physical evaluation of properties, a "housing pension" and housing insurance.

Shanghai and 22 other cities have already started piloting related projects. These local governments are establishing a public fund as the housing pension along with the existing personal accounts of the property owners.

The personal account is based on the housing special maintenance fund system that has been in operation for 20 years, and people do not need to pay maintenance funds separately outside the current system.

The key measure of the housing pension system reform is to establish the public account. And the primary purpose of the public account is to provide funds for physical checks of public housing.

The pilot cities, with the purpose of better protecting people's safety, have used the funds raised by the government for the public account.

In addition to the public account, the "housing pension" also has, as said, a personal account. The housing pension system established this time will mainly use funds raised by the government to establish the public account for "housing pensions".

According to the principle of "not increasing personal burdens and not reducing personal rights and interests", local governments will explore channels for fundraising to establish the accounts in their respective jurisdictions. Therefore, the public account for "housing pension" established this time will not increase the burden on owners.

Yet due to the imperfect housing safety management mechanism and the many hidden dangers in houses, it is urgent to fill the gaps in the field of housing safety management. Therefore, the government has to assume more responsibility for the safety of existing houses, and it is urgent to implement the reform of the housing pension system.

Notably, most of the pilot cities are first- and second-tier ones with better financial conditions. But with the economy facing tremendous downward pressure and many other local governments facing financial difficulties, it remains to be seen how they will raise new funds to establish the public accounts in the reform.