Spare flats offered as budget housing

Residents in some areas of Changning and Minhang districts have rented their spare apartments as affordable public housing under a program sponsored by the local governments, local media reported Monday.

The program aims to increase the supply of affordable public housing for working-class residents, said Wu Hesheng, a representative of the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress.

The first trial of the program took place last year at a residential compound at 888 Xianxia Road West in Changning district, according to a report in the Shanghai Morning Post. The compound is adjacent to Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport and the Shanghai Hongqiao Linkong Economic Zone, whose workers suffer from a dearth of cheap housing nearby.

The Changning district government authorized a local real estate company, Changning District Public Rental Housing Co Ltd, to convince the homeowners of 200 apartments to rent out their properties at below market rates.

In exchange, the company takes on the responsibility of decorating and equipping the apartments with appliances. It also bears the burden of finding tenants to rent the apartments, which it offers at affordable rates, and must handle disputes with the tenants.

Although property owners only receive rental income at 70 percent of the market rate, the program guarantees them steady, long-term income and saves them from many of the hassles that individual landlords have to deal with, Wu told the Global Times.

The first 20 apartments were rented out in 2012, the report said. Currently, 178 property owners have rented out their apartments through the program. In many cases, nearby companies have rented the apartments for their employees.

The program might also help allay the citywide problem of mass renting, Wu said. The company has agreed to cap the number of tenants living in each apartment and must submit to government oversight.

In some residential compounds, some apathetic property owners have rented out their apartments to middlemen who partition the living space to accommodate large groups of tenants. In one case, dozens of tenants have been found living in a single three-bedroom apartment.

Earlier this year, the Xinzhuang Industrial Park in Minhang district adopted a similar program at one of its residential compounds. The compound was built for residents who were relocated, so most of the property owners already had apartments elsewhere.

The industrial park's community office asked a local company to oversee the project.

The rents range from 1,500 yuan ($246) to 2,500 yuan per month.