The press conference on the State Council’s guideline on reform of China's household registration system

(en.nhfpc.gov.cn)

Updated: 2014-08-24

Huang Ming: About the resident permit system, the Ministry of Public Security has formed a draft regulation and submitted it to the State Council after carrying out in-depth investigation and summarizing experiences of various regions. Now the Legal Affairs Office of the State Council, in company with the Ministry of Public Security and other related departments, is deepening research and refining the draft. The relation between the residence system and the temporary residence system will have specific provisions in the regulation.

As for the terrorist attack in Kashgar, the latest development is being released from Xinjiang; the situation is being properly handled. Thank you. 2014-07-30 12:01:36

Beijing News: The guideline explicitly requires including transferred migrant workers into the coverage of the urban affordable housing program. However, as many migrant workers are working in the cities without acquiring hukou, how will you ensure their accommodation in the long term? In addition, Shanghai has been implementing a point system for hukou transfer while Beijing has not started. I’d like to know Vice-Minister Huang Ming’s opinion on whether it is the right time for Beijing to establish such a system immediately? Thank you. 2014-07-30 12:01:50

Feng Jun: The stable residence of migrant workers is closely related to their stable employment. In general, to solve the transferred agricultural population’s housing problem, we have to combine the resource allocation function of the market with the social security function and public service function of the government. On the one hand, we encourage capable migrant workers to purchase or rent houses in the market. On the other hand, we should emphasize the responsibility of the government and companies to bring migrant workers who cannot afford their own housing expenses into affordable housing programs and to provide public rental house or housing subsidies to them. According to the guideline, we will solve this problem from three aspects.

First, for those who have already transferred their hukou to the city, they will be treated similarly to other citizens: the government will provide affordable housing services for any eligible residents. That is to say, they are completely included into the affordable housing system. 2014-07-30 12:03:20

Feng Jun: Second, for those migrant workers who have not acquired hukou but have obtained a residence permit, the local governments should include them into the local affordable housing system step by step if they meet certain requirements such as stable employment, paying for social insurance and stable residence for a fixed number of years. We have arranged local authorities at the prefecture-level or above to include migrant workers with stable employment into their affordable housing system, and they should construct some public rental houses and apartments in the development zones where more migrant workers reside.

Third, for the migrant workers who are neither eligible for hukou transfer nor for affordable housing application, the employers should provide accommodation that meets certain safety and health conditions. 2014-07-30 12:09:31

Huang Ming: You asked about the point system. In point of fact, many cities, including Tianjin, Shanghai, and some cities in Guangdong and Zhejiang province, are already exploring the system. The guideline explicated that mega-cities with 3 to 5 million people should establish such a system, which is based on the experiences of various regions. Beijing and other cities will follow the central authority’s spirit, and thoroughly launch projects to publish the point system.