NEARLY 5,293 households that have passed the final round of official checks on their eligibility for government low-cost housing have been released for 15 days of public scrutiny.
The eligibility list was released on the Web site of the city s housing and construction bureau on the day before the New Year public holidays, which was described as bad timing because holidaying residents were probably unlikely to notice the list, the Daily Sunshine reported yesterday.
I think most people did not notice the list during the holidays. It seems the list was intentionally released at holiday time to cover flaws in the assessment work, said local resident Liu Zhongguang.
Liu passed the second round of official assessment and found the final eligibility list on the bureau s Web site on the night of Dec. 31.
People also complained that a consultation and inquiry hotline set up by the bureau could not be accessed during the holidays, the paper said.
More ironically, the bureau said in a notice that assets of some households on the final eligibility list, including bank balances, social insurance, stock tradings, were still being checked and those ineligible would be removed from the list.
Why did the bureau release a final list without completing the assessment work? Did the bureau rush to a conclusion to show its achievements in 2010? said another resident, Jiang Deliang.
About 31 households on the final list claimed to have no family assets. According to government regulations, a family s total assets should not exceed 280,000 yuan (US$42,297) to be eligible to buy a low-cost home.
Residents living in expensive residential properties also appeared on the final list.
There should be systematic regulations concerning the government-subsidized housing. The eligibility check should not be conducted by only one government department, said Song Ding, director of the tourism and real estate research center of the China Development Institute in Shenzhen.
The city government planned to build more than 50,000 subsidized apartments in the next five years.
The three rounds official checks of eligibility took one year and disqualified about 2,500 applicants, some of whom were involved in fraudulent practices in applying for low-cost housing.
However, detailed information of those disqualified had not been made public and neither had they been punished.
The applicants went through three assessments at subdistrict, district and city levels before being added to the final eligibility list. (Li Hao)
