HousingcheatsrequiredtovacatebyNov10

From: Shenzhen Daily

Updated: 2007-10-31 00:10

SOME residents who are not eligible to live in low-rent or government-subsidized housing have already vacated the apartments as required by the municipal government.

"The government is getting tougher on this and I have to be quick to vacate the apartment," said Shen Ni, a woman working for a State-owned enterprise.

The municipal bureau of land resources and housing management issued notices Thursday to those who had been found to be living in or leasing government-subsidized apartments against relevant regulations and ordered them to vacate the residences by Nov. 10, yesterday"s Daily Sunshine reported.

Mayor Xu Zongheng pledged last week to fire public servants who can afford a Mercedes Benz or BMW car but still apply for low-rent apartments. "With an apartment to live in, some public servants lease the extra apartments for profit. Others, already with a subsidized apartment in their name, apply to buy more," Xu said at a seminar Wednesday attended by officials returning from a two-month inspection tour of Singapore.

In Shenzhen, housing subsidies cover only a limited number of residents, primarily public servants and hukou holders.

Low-income residents and families welcomed the new measures taken by the municipal government and several hundred people have already applied to rent the apartments at the city"s housing development, repair and leasing center.

"Apartments leased by the government are several hundred yuan cheaper than commercial housing and the property management is also good," said Chen Xiaodang, a bank employee, who immediately made an application after reading a news report about the housing vacancies.

Xu had earlier promised to offer 6,000 low-rent apartments to low-income residents this year. The government now has 4,800 in hand, and Xu said the rest would come from the extra apartments of public servants.