Many second-tier cities have launched policies to give tenants household registration (hukou), a move to attract high-end talent, China National Radio reported on Sunday.
The move also led a wide discussion among Chinese over whether tenants will be able to enjoy the same public services after they get hukou as local residents, said the report.
Wuxi, a second-tier city in East China's Jiangsu Province, announced on Friday that legal tenants who have paid urban social insurance and had resident permits for five years are allowed to get urban hukou.
To some extent, the move could attract high-end talent, according to the report, citing Shen Xun, vice chairman of Wuxi Real Estate Industry Associations.
Besides Wuxi, some other second-tier cities including Zhengzhou, capital of Central China's Henan Province, Yangzhou in Jiangsu, and Jinan, capital of East China's Shandong Province all introduced similar policies to allow tenants to obtain household registration, said the report.
Experts noted that it would be a trend in the future that more legal tenants will get urban hukou in the country.
But most Chinese have their concerns over whether the tenants will be able to enjoy the same public services as local residents.
Tenants have the demand for the same treatment "in education, medical treatment and public health," said the report, citing Liu Weimin, a real estate research fellow of the Development Research Center of the State Council.
For instance, many parents hope their children can study in good schools. Home ownership is a key requirement in the school allocation system of many cities in China, as most school enrollment is determined mainly by the location of the students' home.
In that case, tenants who have no home ownership still cannot enjoy the same treatment as local residents.
On July 17, the government of Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong Province, announced that it will offer rental tenants the same rights as housing owners to educational access, tax rebates and monetary support.
