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5I08 KzlProj/Acc5PresIClRClDaIeijndd

 

 

A Plan 8 Paper For Master in Urban and Regional Planning

Michigan State Urweisny

The Current Situation and Future
Development of Urbanized Villages:

The Policy of Low-income Houses in the City
of Xi'an and Experience of Western Countries

 

Submitted to:
Dr. Eric Strauss
Dr. Herb Norman

Nan Wang
Summer 2008

 

Acknowledgements

This paper is in many ways the academic culmination of my two years at-
tending Michigan State University as a graduate student. It is also the product of
the unique resources, experiences, and people I have encountered in my two years
as a student in East Lansing. I would like to thank the professors who contributed
to this work in some way: Dr. Eric Strauss, Dr. Herb Norman and most of all my
advisors.

I would also like to thank my parents and friends for their encouragement,
support, financial and otherwise, without whom this work would not have been

possible.

Contents

1 Introduction 1

2 Housing for the poor in Xi’an 4

2.1 The growing population .......................... 4

2.2 The growing housing price ........................ 9

2.3 The contrast of high housing price and low income .......... 11
2.4 The current housing choices and existing accommodation for poor in Xi’an 14

2.5 The cheapest choice in Xi’an for low-income houses: urbanized village 16
2.5.1 The basic features of urbanized villages ............. 17
2.5.2 The current distribution of urbanizing villages in Xi’an . . . . 19
2.5.3 The impact of urbanized villages to Xi’an: good or bad? . . . 23
3 Housing for the poor in other countries 28
3.1 The effort in UK .............................. 29
3.2 The effort in US. .............................. 35
3.2.1 From 19305 to 19605 ........................ 36
3.2.2 From 19605 to 19705 ........................ 37
3.2.3 After 19705 ............................. 38
4 Comparison and analysis 42
4.1 The problems of urbanized villages’ clearance and development in Xi’an 42

CONTENTS

 

4.2 The former failure and current success of other country’s experience 46

4.3 Similarity, difference and learning .................... 50
5 Conclusion 54
Bibliography 55

iii

2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5
2.6

List of Tables

The population from 2000 to 2007 in Xi’an. ............... 8
The Price Index of Housing Sales (PIHS) in Xi’an(2000-2007) ...... 10
The rank of housing price and income of Xi’an ............. 12
The distribution of urbanized villages by districts. ........... 20
The distribution of urbanized villages by roads. ............ 22
The problems people concerned in urbanized villages .......... 26

iv

2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5
2.6

4.1

List of Figures

The location of Xi’an. ........................... 6
The five northwestern provinces. ..................... 7
The population from 2000 to 2007 in Xi’an. ............... 8
The six districts in Xi’an. .......................... 20
The main roads in Xi’an. .......................... 21
The photos in urbanized villages. .................... 25

The contrast of the past, under construction and future in Lijia Village. 45

I 1
r.
41
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mtg-“~at- xxnu . .
“r

I:

Introduction

flaming is not new as a social welfare program. A good shelter is one of
e three basic human needs, and a responsible society has the obligation

to prevent people from dying out in the cold. Providing sufficient and affordable
housing is an important issue in every country.

China’s housing market is now faced with this big problem. Recently, in the
period of China’s rapid economic growth and urbanization, China’s urban land-
scape has changed dramatically. One of the prominent changes is the expansion
of cities. Thousands of rural residents pour into big cities every day to pursue
more work chances to improve their life quality, making the cities more and more
crowded and expanding without control. Usually, these migrants undertake most

of the dirty, heavy, dangerous and more important, the low-income jobs in the city,

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

 

which limits their capacity to buy urban housing units in the commercial housing
market. In addition, the more and more population in cities also raised the housing
price. It has become higher and higher in many big cities, which is far beyond the
affordability of low-income people. Meanwhile, existing urban housing provision
systems ignore or do not have the ability to meet so many low-income people’s
needs. Therefore, many low income people are still living in very poor housing
condition.

Urbanized village is such a unique situation rising as a result of lack of afford-
able housing in Chinese cities. It is an important and complex problem in China’s
housing development process. It is related to many economic and social problems
such as poverty, discrimination, crime and environmental pollution. People call
it "the special slum in Chinese cities" and many efforts have been done to better
develop it. From my literature review, I find that most housing studies and assis-
tance has occurred in the bigger and more-developed cities in Eastern China like
Beijing 1, Shenzhen 2 and Guangzhou 3, while no significant housing studies have
been completed in the smaller and less-developed cities in Western China, which
are developing very fast recent years and their housing problems need more con-

sideration. The purpose of this Plan B is to:

1. determine existing physical, economic and social problems of urbanized vil-
lages in Xi’an that make these villages undesirable places for the city’s poor

to live;

 

1Liu, X. and Liang, W. (1997). Zhejiangcun: social and spatial implications of informal urban-
ization on the periphery of Beijing, Cities, Vol. 14, No. 2, pp. 95-108.

2Song, Yan, Zenou, Yves and Ding, Chengri. (2008). Let’s Not Throw the Baby Out with the
Bath Water: The Role of Urban Villages in Housing Rural Migrants in China, Urban Studies, Vol. 45,
No. 2, pp. 313-330.

3Fan, C. Cindy. (2001). Migration and labor-market returns in urban China: results froma recent
survey in Guangzhou, Environment and Planning A, Vol. 33, pp. 479-508

2

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

 

2. study government housing programs in the US. and UK that successfully

provide affordable housing for the urban poor;

3. determine the best approach that would provide affordable housing Options
for Xi’an’s poor families, using housing program examples from the US. and

UK.

Housing for the poor in Xi’an

2.1 The growing population

 

Rom late 19705, because of the economic reform which changed China’s
Iconomic system a lot, China’s urban landscapes have also changed dra-
matically. One of the obvious changes we can see clearly is that the city is expand-
ing very fast due to the constantly growing population as well as thousands of
rural migrants. Because of the birth control policy in China, most family have only
one or two children now, the average birth rate is not high in every city compared
to other countries, only about 1.2% 1, much lower than the world average birth rate
as of 2007: 2.03%. However, the population base is huge (1.3 billion in 2005), so the

 

1Source: http: / /www.stats.gov.cn/ National Bureau of Statistics of China.

CHAPTER 2: HOUSING FOR THE POOR IN XI'AN

 

population keeps growing very fast. What is more important, every day, a lot of
rural residents pour into big cities every day to pursue more work opportunities to
improve their life quality. Big cities become more and more crowded these years.

Xi’an is the biggest city in northwestern China. It is the developing core of
the "Western development" policy implemented from 2000 by the national govern-
ment. It is the capital of Shaanxi Province, with a long history of more than 3000
years. (Figure 2.1) The northwestern part of China includes 5 provinces and all of
them are the less developed area in China compared to the south and east coast of
China. They have the lower GDP and residents have lower income. (Figure 2.2) As
the GDP rank of 2005, in all the 31 provinces, Xinjiang is ranked the 11th, Ningxia
is the 24th, Shaanxi is the 26th, Qinghai is the 28th and Gansu is the 29th 2. Among
these five provinces, Xi’an is the most prosperous city and also a good paradigm
for its old culture, better education atmosphere, famous tourism and the poten-
tial of developing into a big global city. Therefore, it becomes the first choice of
nearby immigrants to move in, work and live. Growing population, coming with
the problem such as unemployment rate, aging trend of the population, congestion
and poverty are now feazing this city.

Below (Table 2.1) is the population data from local government in Xi’an in

recent 8 years.

 

2Source: http: / /www.stats.gov.cn/, National Bureau of Statistics of China.

CHAPTER 2: HOUSING FOR THE POOR IN XI'AN

 

 

      

/I’:¢~vli 7

The map of
Shaanxi Province

lililllllillllxu um
I

 

The map of China

Figure 2.1: The location of Xi’an.

CHAPTER 2: HOUSING FOR THE POOR IN XI'AN

 

M's-4g

 

, " _. Islands of Hainan(7
1‘: MM South China Sea
'N‘ lit I 1

Islands Of South China Sea

I
Figure 2.2: The five northwestern provinces.

CHAPTER 2: HOUSING FOR THE POOR IN XI'AN

 

Table 2.1: The population from 2000 to 2007 in Xi’an.

 

Year 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

2006 2007

 

Population 6880100 6948400 7025900 7165800 7250100 7417300 7531100 7642500

 

 

Source: http: / /www.xatj.gov.cn/, Xian Municipal Bureau of Statistics.

E

 

 

l
i
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l

 

 

 

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2

E.

 

2004

 

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l

2003

You

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6500000 6750000 7000000 7250000 7500000 7750000
Population

Figure 2.3: The population from 2000 to 2007 in Xi’an.

The data showing in the Table 2.1 is just based on HUKOU system 3. Living

population in Xi’an is far more than these numbers. Therefore, there are 7642500

people in 2007 in Xi’an means that 7642500 persons have a resident permit, that

 

3In China, unlike its American counterparts, the immigration between cities or rural area and
urban area is restricted because of HUKOU system. It is basically a resident permit given by the
government of China. It is issued on family basis. Every family has a HUKOU booklet that records
information about the family members, including name, birth date, relationship with each other,
marriage status and with whom if married, address and your employer...People who have HUKOU
in Xi’an will have higher priority in finding a job and purchasing a house than the ones without it.

This is realized as discrimination and is gradually becoming extinct recent years.

CHAPTER 2: HOUSING FOR THE POOR IN XI’AN

 

is, HUKOU in Xi’an. There are also many immigrants whose resident permits are
in other places but work and live in Xi’an. In 1990, Xi’an has a living population
of 6179500 according to the fourth countrywide census, including 3469200 popu-
lation in urban area. In 2000, the total living population becomes 7411400 with
an increment of 1231900, including 4565600 in urban area with an increment of
1096400 from 1990. Just after 4 years, in early 2004, the speed of urban sprawl is
even faster and the immigrants’ population occupies 1 / 4 of the total population in
urban area. Until 2007, the living population in Xi’an is 8305400. It is much higher
than the HUKOU population and most of them are immigrants from other smaller

cities and rural area 4.

2.2 The growing housing price

 

Coming with the issue of constantly growing population, especially the grow-
ing population in urban area as well as the higher and higher population density
in urban area, the housing price is also becoming higher and higher. From 2000
to 2007, the housing price in Xi’an grew 2680 RMB/m2 to 3422 RMB/mz, almost
increased by 27.7% in total and 3.5% annually in average 5, which is higher than
the ideal increment of 2% ~ 3% decided by Xi’an Housing Management Bureau.
In China, the housing price is more scientifically calculated by the Price Index of
Housing Sales instead of just the average price per square meter. This is a rela-
tive indicator used to compare how the housing prices differ between time peri-
ods or geographical locations. It reflects how the housing price is changing and
the changing trend in the future. It considers about all types of houses, includ-

 

4Sour'ce: httpz/ /www.xatj.gov.cn/, Xian Municipal Bureau of Statistics.
5Source: http:/ /www.xatj.gov.cn/, Xian Municipal Bureau of Statistics.

9

CHAPTER 2: HOUSING FOR THE POOR IN XI’AN

 

ing public houses and private houses with eliminating the factors of the quality,
the construction, the location and the sale situation of houses. It mainly depends
on the relationship of supply and demand and the change of cost. According to
the Price Index of Housing Sales, we can see how the housing price growing from

2000 6.

Table 2.2: The Price Index of Housing Sales (PIHS) in Xi’an(2000-2007).

 

Year 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
PIHS 101.3 101.9 101.1 101.4 105 104.3 103.6 106.4

 

 

 

Source: httpz/ /www.xatj.gov.cn/ , Xi’an Municipal Bureau of Statistics.

From the Table 2.2, we can see that the housing price keeps growing in recent
8 years. It grew steadily and slowly from 2000 to 2003, but after 2004, because
of national economic decline and serious inflation, building materials and land
become more and more expensive, the housing price grows sharply.

When compared with the increase of household income, the housing price is
also high. In 2000, for a medium-income family in Xi’an, the average Per Capita
Disposable Income is 6364 RMB, and a typical family composed by 3 people, the
disposable income is 19092 RMB per year. According to the 43% consuming rate
of Chinese residents, the 3-peop1e-family has an average surplus per year of 10882
RMB (19092 x 57%). However, the average housing price in Xi’an in 2000 is 2680
RMB/m2, and the Per Capita Living Area is 14.82 m2. For a 3-people-family, the
house will cost them 2680 x 14.82 x 3 = 119153 RMB. Thus, if one medium-income

family in Xi’an wants to buy a medium-size house in 2000, they will need about

 

6For each year, the data of last year is supposed to be 100.

10

CHAPTER 2: HOUSING FOR THE POOR IN XI’AN

 

11 years. In 2007, the average Per Capita Disposable Income is 12662RMB, the
average housing price if 3422 RMB/m2, and the Per Capita Living Area goes up
to 23.15m2 7. Using the method above, I get that it still needs 11 years to buy a
medium-Size house without any progress. Furthermore, the result is calculated
by an extreme hypothesis that all of the remaining income (57% of household dis-
posable income) is used in housing. In fact, according to a famous real estate re-
searcher Ge Ning 3 in China, theoretically, the housing expense can not exceed
50% of the household income. Practically, if the housing expense exceeds 30% of
the household income, it will impact people’s normal life, which can not be called
an affordable house. Therefore, if following this theory, the supposed household
expense on housing every year will be much less, plus the loan interest, it will take

much longer time to buy the house for even a medium-income family.

2.3 The contrast of high housing price and low in-

come

 

As the capital of a western province in China, the high housing price and
low income of residents in Xi’an is a big conflict for many people. Compared with
other cities, the housing price in Xi’an is also very high. Below is a table to show the
rank of the housing price and income level of 40 big and medium cities in China
in 2004. The housing price is ranked as 19, while the per capita disposal income is
only ranked as 33.

Below we can see from the Table 2.3 that the contrast of high housing price

 

7Source: http: / /www.xatj.gov.cn/, Xian Municipal Bureau of Statistics.
SSource: httpz//bschool.hexun.com/2008-07-21/107581266.html.

11

CHAPTER 2: HOUSING FOR THE POOR IN XI'AN

 

and low income level really shows the difficulty of Xi’an residents to buy a house.
Here we can reach a conclusion that housing price in Xi’an is much higher than

should be expected and it is very hard for poor people to buy a house in Xi’an.

Table 2.3: The rank of housing price and income of Xi’an.

 

 

 

 

 

Rank of Average housing Average disposal Rank of
housing price City price (RMB/ m2) income (RMB / m2) income
1 Wenzhou 9278 17727 2
2 Shanghai 8627 16683 4
3 Hangzhou 7210 14565 7
4 Beijing 6232 15638 6
5 Shenzhen 6037 27596 1
6 Ningbo 5900 15882 5
7 Guangzhou 5660 16884 3
8 Xiamen 5156 14443 9
9 Nanjing 4960 11602 11
10 Tranjin 4760 11467 12
11 Qingdao 4639 11089 14
12 Suzhou 4460 14451 8
13 Dalian 4241 10378 17
14 Fuzhou 3368 11436 13
15 Jinan 3172 12005 10
16 Kunming 3150 9045 24
Continued on Next Page. . .

12

CHAPTER 2: HOUSING FOR THE POOR IN XI’AN

 

Table 2.3 — Continued

 

 

 

Rank of Average housing Average disposal Rank of

housing price City price (RMB/ m2) income (RMB/ m2) income
17 Guiyang 3100 8989 25
18 Taiyuan 3050 9353 22
19 Xi’an 3007 8544 33
20 Shenyang 2926 8880 29
21 Chengdu 2868 10394 16
22 Wuhan 2858 9564 20
23 Changsha 2825 11021 15
24 Nanning 2817 8060 34
25 Nanchang 2777 8690 30
26 Chongqing 2732 9221 23
27 Zhengzhou 2650 9364 21
28 Harbin 2574 8940 27
29 Shijiazhuang 2470 8622 31
30 Lanzhou 2438 7684 36

 

 

Source: http: / /www.xatj.gov.cn/, Xian Municipal Bureau of Statistics.

13

CHAPTER 2: HOUSING FOR THE POOR IN XI'AN

 

2.4 The current housing choices and existing accom—

modation for poor in Xi'an

 

Currently, in order to solve the housing problem in Xi’an, there are two kinds
of policies managed by national and local government providing low-income hous-
ing to poor people adopted from mid 19905. For purchase, the policy is called
Economical and Affordable House adopted and for rent, the policy is Low Rental
House.

Economical and Affordable House is the policy managed by the local govern-
ment to provide a cheaper house for median and low income peOple in purchasing
market. In Xi’an, the price is about 30% lower than the commercial market. People
who can buy Economical and Affordable House must be eligible for two criteria.
Firstly, he or she must have no house currently or can not achieve the lowest hous-
ing criteria made by the local government 9. Secondly, the household income must
be lower than the medium income line made by local government every year. In
2008, this is 30000 RMB per family in Xi’an.

The Low Rental House is the similar policy just in rental market, which is for
poorer people. The government directly built the house or provide rental subsidy
to poor people. The per capita living space of the eligible lessee should be lower
than 7 square meters and the per capita income should be lower than 490RMB per
month, which is the low-income line in 2008 in Xi’an.

However, these two policies are not so effective in Xi’an. There are some

shortcomings.

 

9In Xi’an, the criterion is the living space per person is lower than 60% of the average per capita
living space in the city or lower than 45 square meters per family.

14

CHAPTER 2: HOUSING FOR THE POOR IN XI'AN

 

1. These low-income houses are much fewer than people’s needs. From 1998,
the Economical and Affordable House increase by 1 million square meters
per year. By 2004, there are totally 6.5 million square meters in Xi’an. The area
of a set of houses is about 80 to 120 square meters, so the public houses can
hold 50, 000 to 80,000 families in Xi’an. However, the living population near
the central Xi’an is about 4 million, plus the increment of 300,000 every year
and 22% of the total population are low-income people, the public houses are

far from people’s needs 10.

2. The low-income houses are still more expensive than the real poor’s afford-
ability. In the bottom of the housing market, the Economical and Affordable
House is just 30% lower than the commercial market, but there are about
more than 40000 absolutely poor people in Xi’an whose annual household
disposable income is only 2567RMB. It is also very hard to afford a house.
Most of them have to stay in faraway suburbs and small villages all their life.

3. In order to minimize the cost, the Economical and Affordable House and the
Low Rental House are mostly located in the margin area of the city, where
the land cost is cheaper but not convenient to find a job and commute every
day. Most people are not satisfied with the location and do not choose this

low-income house.

4. The policies are not executed effectively. Because of some problem like cor-
ruption and bribe, a lot of the low-income housing are not provided to real
low-income people, but benefit the ones who have a relationship in the gov-

emment.

 

10Source: httpz/ /www.xafgj.gov.cn/, Xi’an Housing Management Bureau.

15

CHAPTER 2: HOUSING FOR THE POOR IN XI'AN

 

2.5 The cheapest choice in Xi'an for low-income

houses: urbanized village

 

Because of the current housing problems in Xi’an-the high price beyond af-
fordability and the weakness of public low-income housing I mentioned above,
low-income migrants often choose to live in urbanized villages, which are the
cheapest choice for them.

Urbanized village is a unique phenomenon that appears on both the out-
skirts and the downtown parts of some major cities. They are often surrounded
by skyscrapers, transportation infrastructures, and other modern urban construc-
tions. On one hand, urbanized villages are usually inhabited by the poor and
associated with squalor, overcrowding, crime and other social problems. It is con-
sidered as the special Chinese slums. On the other hand, they are also notable for
affording economical housing to poor newcomers to the city.

The original residents in urbanized villages used to be peasants but now are
mostly landlords and the majority of the other residents are migrant workers. The
emergence and fast growth of urbanized villages is a result of rapid urbanization,
the encroachment of rural settlements and its related rural to urban migration as
well as China’s land policies. Because of the reform and opening-up policy in the
late 19705, the migrants grew very quickly. According to official estimates, there
were about 70 million rural-urban migrants working and living in urban area at
the end of 2000. The level of urbanization in China has increased rapidly from
17.9 percent to 36.2 percent from 1978 to 2000, with an annual growth rate two

16

CHAPTER 2: HOUSING FOR THE POOR IN XI’AN

 

times higher than the world average 11. Most of the migrants do not have good
education and high skills, so they have to take most of the dirty, heavy, dangerous,
and low-income jobs in the city which urban residents do not want to do. However,
due to the incompleteness of reforms of social services in the urban area, the rural
migrants do not have sufficient access to many urban amenities such as housing,
so they choose to live in the cheapest apartment they can find no matter how bad
condition it has. The landlords, who usually are native farmers and do not have
other reliable jobs, therefore, keep constructing inexpensive housing units and rent
out these extra rooms to rural migrants. Their correlation is an inducement of the
emergence of urbanized villages.

The following statistics provide a general glance at the popularity and scope
of villages in Xi’an. In the city of Xi’an with a population of over 8 million, there
were 187 urbanized villages with approximately 200,000 inhabitants in 2005. Not
only in Xi’an, but also in almost all big cities, such as Beijing, Guangzhou, Shen-
zhen, there are many urbanized villages, respectively 331 12, 138 13 and 173 14.

2.5.1 The basic features of urbanized villages

In Xi’an, there are many urbanized villages, which are now having a great
impact on residents’ life. Its role in the city can be seen as a slum, but it is different
from a slum from its origin. Generally speaking, they have special characteristics

of their rural origin, which clearly different from urban and rural areas institution—

 

“wir, Li. (2003). 19752000 The Study of Urbanization Process in China, China Economic History
Forum.

12Source: http: / / news.xinhuanet.com / house / 2004 — 06/29 /content1554041 .htm

13Source: httpz/ / www.aybgzs.gov.cn/ Articlecla552.as p?ArticleI D = 3551

14Source: http:/ /news.tom.com/2007 — 04 — 13 /0020 /39133087.html

17

CHAPTER 2: HOUSING FOR THE POOR IN XI'AN

 

ally.

The first characteristic of urbanized villages is in land use system. In China,
according to the law, all the land in cities is owned by the province, further by
the country. The homeownership in urban area in China is different from other
countries that people own the house and apartment while the land is still owned
by the government. But the land in rural areas, such as a village, is collectively
owned by all the residents in this village. During the process of urbanization, many
farmlands become part of the city, and many villages are encircled by the city. At
first, the province’s government does not want to invest much money into recon-
structing the villages. At the same time, the residents in villages, who used to be
peasants, also do not want to lose their land they live on and compete with higher-
educated urban residents to pursue job opportunities. As a result, although the
"urbanized villages" are now located in cities, the land is still collectively owned
and the residents now live on renting their extra houses without any other work.

The second characteristic is in the system of social management. According
to law, "neighborhood committees" are the sub-government of the urban govem-
ments, and the urban government supports their budget. But in rural areas, the
villagers’ committee is a self-govemment organization. Management of the vil-
lagers’ committees is financially supported by villagers themselves. This means
less fund and lower service in these villages.

The third characteristic is in residential registration system, which is related
to the land-use system and social management system. In these urbanized vil-
lages, it is interesting that even though "villagers" have already acquired urban
residential registration, that is an urban HUKOU, ever since their farmland were

taken over, they remain the status as "villagers." For them, the status of "villager"

18

CHAPTER 2: HOUSING FOR THE POOR IN XI'AN

 

is far more important than urban HUKOU. This is because that the status of "vil-
lager" enables them to be the landlords of the so many low-income houses and
get rent fees from the immigrant workers who rent house to live in the "urbaniz-
ing villages", which are enough for them to support their whole family without
hard working. That may be the reason why these former farmers now prefer be-
ing "villagers" to being urban citizens. Furthermore, although the "villagers" in
the "urbanized villages" have no farmland and most of them do not work in the
"village," they remain to be villagers closely attaching to the "villages" to keep the
life style which they are accustomed to and the social network they rely on. It is
said that an "urbanized village" is like an isolated island in the sea. The sea around
it is the whole city which they think is strange to them and the island is a small
community in which everybody knows each other well.

2.5.2 The current distribution of urbanizing villages in Xi’an

From the map in the figure 2.4, figure 2.5 and the table 2.4, we can see that:

First of all, the urbanizing villages are distributed almost every part of Xi’an
with a clearly spatial trend. As the table 2.4 shows below, they distribute all the di-
rections around the city, but Yanta District has the most, and about 70% are located
in the region near the city between the second ring road and the third ring road.

Because the land in Xincheng District, Beilin District and Lianhu District
(Within Second Ring Road) is almost full-developed-used as commercial and res-
idential area, the urbanized villages here are less and smaller than other places.
Whereas, Yanta District, Baqiao District and Weiyang District are farther from the
heart of the city and now are under construction. Many villages are losing farm-

land and becoming urbanized villages. Therefore, these districts turn into the re-

19

CHAPTER 2: HOUSING FOR THE POOR IN XI'AN

 

 

gions with most urbanized villages and most problems coming with them.

Figure 2.4: The six districts in Xi’an.

Table 2.4: The distribution of urbanized villages by districts.

 

 

 

 

 

Xicheng Beilin Lianhu Yanta Baqiao Weiyang
District District District District District District Total
Within
2nd Ring 8 15 18 0 0 9 50
Road
Between
2nd and 3rd 5 0 17 63 25 10 120
Ring Road
Outside
3rd Ring 0 0 0 8 4 5 17
Road
Total 13 15 35 71 29 24 187

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source: Xi’an Construction Committee.

20

CHAPTER 2: HOUSING FOR THE POOR IN XI’AN

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Figure 2.5: The main roads in Xi’an.

21

CHAPTER 2: HOUSING FOR THE POOR IN XI'AN

 

Secondly, according to the distribution by the main traffic line in the table 2.5,
we can see that along the Second Ring Road, there are 35 urbanized villages such
as Hejia Village, Iixiang Village, Xinjia Villages, etc., which are 19% of the total
amount. In addition, along the Third Ring Road, there are 28 urbanized villages,
which occupy 15% of the total amount (22 in Yanta District). Along the central axis,
there are 20 urbanized villages such as Zhangjia Village and Xuejia Village, which
are 11% of the total.

Table 2.5: The distribution of urbanized villages by roads.

 

 

Name Number of urbanized villages Percent (%)
First Ring Road 11 6
Second Ring Road 35 19
Third Ring Road 28 15
Elevated Expressway 15 8
Central Axis 20 11
Taibai Road 10 5
Hongguang Road 10 5
Huaqing Road 9 5
Other Roads 49 26

 

 

Source: Xi’an Construction Committee.

Obviously, most of the urbanized villages are located along the main traffic
road outside the Second Ring Road. These districts are less-developed and have
less road density. The villages are distributed along the axis. Within the Second
Ring Road, the villages distributed denser without an apparent axis. These dis-

22

CHAPTER 2: HOUSING FOR THE POOR IN XI'AN

 

tricts are well-deve10ped and have many roads with closer spaces between them.
So in other words, the urbanized villages inside the Second Ring Road are dis-
tributed by many roads crossing each other.

Usually, the main traffic roads can be seen as the gate, the exit and the en-
trance of the city. They are often wider and occupy a lot of farmland. In order to
lower the cost of the roads, they are often built at the margin area of the city be-
cause of the lower land price and fewer existing buildings to tear down. Therefore,
the roads often traverse big parts of farmland and wildland. Meanwhile, because
of the improvement of traffic situation, the areas around the main roads are de-
veloped. Many factories, grocery stores, residences besiege the villages one after
another. These urbanized villages grow up along the main traffic roads.

Thirdly, most of the urbanized villages are sited in the new developing area,
such as Chanhe developing area in Baqiao District and Qujiang developing area
in Yanta District. For Xi’an which is a fast developing city, the type of centralized
development has some positive meanings such as saving the land, shortening the
length of roads and pipeline, reducing the time spending on transportation and
saving the construction cost. Based on these advantages, the urbanized villages

expand quickly in these developing areas.

2.5.3 The impact of urbanized villages to Xi’an: good or bad?

Urbanized villages have a large impact on the whole city. For their good im-
pact, what is the most important is that they provide the low-income people with
a cheap dwelling. Most of the residents in urbanized villages are blue-collar work-
ers, and they can not afford the expensive housing price in Xi’an. As I mentioned

above, more and more immigrants pour into Xi’an to find a job, but the housing

23

CHAPTER 2: HOUSING FOR THE POOR IN XI’AN

 

price keeps growing without a limit. Most of the immigrants are poor-educated
and can not find a good job. They can only work as the basic workers and get the
minimum wage. For them, living in such a cheap place is the first choice. After
they make more money, some will send the money home in poor villages, some
may go out to find a better shelter and newcomers will live here.

The second advantage is the benefit of landlords. By renting their houses,
the landlords get stable income. In addition, most of the landlords rent the up-
per floors of their houses and leave the first floor to be grocery stores, book stores,
barbershops, restaurants, etc. They fulfill people’s daily needs and enrich the resi-
dents’ life.

However, many bad social problems come with the rise of urbanized vil-
lages, which are more apparent than their good points. In English, an urban vil-
lage usually refers to a well-planned development at the edge of an urban area,
which usually come with medium density development and mixed use zoning,
but in China, this is totally different. A typical urbanized village in China is very
badly-developed.

Firstly, the environment in many villages is in extremely poor condition:
buildings are very crowed, public stairs and corridors inside buildings are very
narrow, public facilities are inadequate and poor maintained, distances between
buildings are very narrow and can not meet the basic requirements of transporta-
tion and fire control standards. (See figure 2.6 15) Secondly, there are also social
problems such as violence, prostitution, drug trade, burglary and robbery.

The table 2.6 below Shows the respondence of the villagers in a survey con-

ducted by Shaanxi Social Science Research Institute in 2005 about the issues in

 

15Photographed by Bing Ling and Wei Li.

24

CHAPTER 2: HOUSING FOR THE POOR IN XI’AN

 

 

Figure 2.6: The photos in urbanized villages.

25

CHAPTER 2: HOUSING FOR THE POOR IN XI’AN

 

urbanized villages they care about.

Table 2.6: The problems people concerned in urbanized villages.

 

 

How many people The percentage

 

 

 

Problems care about it of the respondent Rank
Environment pollution 736 80.3 1
Community safety 601 65.6 2
Management and service 541 59.1 3
Transportation congestion 517 56.4 4
Social morality 295 32.2 5
Unemployment 172 18.8 6
Marketing system 171 18.7 7
Income and

145 15.8 8
economic development
Education 116 12.7 9
Social equity 62 6.8 10
Medical treatment

52 5.7 11
and insurance
Immigrants 45 4.9 12
Management of

44 4.8 13
floating population
Housing 34 3.7 14
Beggar and homelessness 26 2.8 15
Continued on Next Page. . .

26

CHAPTER 2: HOUSING FOR THE POOR IN XI’AN

 

Table 2.6 - Continued

 

 

How many people The percentage

 

Problems care about it of the respondent Rank
Aging and social welfare 26 2.8 16
Others 171 - -

 

 

Source: Shaanxi Social Science Research Institute(2005).

We can see how many problems they have now. Urbanized villages are not
regulated by any form of urban planning policy. Most of them are heavily popu-
lated, overdeveloped and lack infrastructure, and associated with unplanned land
uses, decayed housing condition, reduced public safety and deteriorating social
order, etc. The building density in some villages is more than 70%. They are com-
posed of overcrowded multi-story buildings ranging from three to five (or more)
floors, and narrow alleys, which are sometimes 1.5m to 2m wide and difficult for
vehicles to pass through, not to mention fire trucks or ambulances. They are also
notorious for the high crime rate and the drug dealers. These urbanized villages
are generally considered as undesirable places and are gradually torn down by

governments.

27

Housing for the poor in other countries

Te Situation in Xi’an is more or less similar with the situation of western
countries in 19th century. Many rural migrants pour into big cities to find
work opportunity but without sufficient social welfare system. The urbanized vil-
lages in Chinese cities and the slums in western countries have the common char-
acteristics: very high population density, very low standard living condition, and
very poor residents. Here I pick up UK. and US. as examples because they have
a long history and the top experience to successfully provided public houses to
low-income people and have the similar struggling way of clearing slums in cities.
Their failure and success can be a mirror to Xi’an.

In 19th century, in Europe, the industry revolution led to the rapidly labor
transfer from agriculture to manufacturing. The huge population swarmed into

28

CHAPTER 3: HOUSING FOR THE POOR IN OTHER COUNTRIES

 

big cities, and these cities were in very short of houses. The housing problem was
the biggest problem when lots of peasants moved into cities. In United Kingdom,
some real estate developers built many back-to-back houses densely for the sake
of high economic profits. Two rows of houses were built back to back with narrow
spaces between them and very bad ventilation. In average, 7 people lived in one
house and there were very little public facilities. Until late 19th century, there
were still 1 / 3 residents living in such crowd and dirty condition. In United States,
the slum appeared from late 19th century to early 20th century and coming with
the problem of suburbanization. Before mid-19th century, many immigrants and
the local residents in US. were busy in developing the desolate western area and
building new cities, so although there is huge population immigration, the housing
problem was not so Obvious. From 18705, more peasants poured into cities. The
environment in cities become worse, as well as many satellite communities were
developing. Many residents of metropolitan areas no longer live and work within
the central urban area; instead, they choose to live in suburbs and commute to
work via automobile or public transportation system, leaving the downtown area
declined.

Until recent years, low-income housing is still a big issue in U.K. and US.
housing policies. Each year, the government will make proper new policies to

help providing affordable housing to poor people.

3.1 The effort in U.K.

 

In the process of urbanization, many countries have realized the problem of

housing and adopted some policies to clear slum and provide affordable housing

29

CHAPTER 3: HOUSING FOR THE POOR IN OTHER COUNTRIES

 

to low-income people in order to solve the problems of poverty, sanitation, pollu-

tion and public safety. In 19th century in U.K., the main policies are:

1. Restricting new slums or conducting Slum redevelopment by legislation and
administration. In United Kingdom, many cities set up rules to improve the
condition of housing and sanitation in 18405. These rules included the nar-
rowest width of buildings, the nearest spaces between two rows of houses,
and required all of the houses having windows on both sides. The notorious
"back-to-back" houses were prohibited gradually. After that, there were Ar-
tizan and Labourers’ Dweelings Act 1868, and its improvement in 1875, the
Housing, Town Planning, Etc. Act 1909 and many more housing act concern-

ing about health, urban sanitary, subsidy, compensation, etc.

2. The government conducted real estate developers to build affordable houses
to decrease the slums. From mid 19th century, the London County Council
encouraged affordable houses by tax deduction, reducing the land price or

prolonging the loan period of public project.

3. The government directly invested in the affordable houses. In 1890, local
governments in Britain were authorized to build publics houses. Between
the two world wars, England and Wales built about 3.33 million urban pub-
lic houses 1. The affordable houses were studied by many countries and dis-
tricts afterward. Especially in early Singapore and Hongkong, the affordable
houses were very cheap and many poor people can afford them. It is an ef-

fective way to locate poor people. But this also brings the government big

 

lEnglish, John, Madigan, Ruth and Norman, Peter. (1976). Slum Clearance: the Social and Admin-
istrative Context in England and Wales, Croom Helm Ltd.

30

CHAPTER 3: HOUSING FOR THE POOR IN OTHER COUNTRIES

 

financial burden and the government won’t build more.

4. The cooperation and participation of public parties. Some non-profit housing

associations helped low—income class to build affordable housing.

In current U.K., all major housing associations are registered with the Hous-
ing Corporation, which regulates them and provides grants for development. Hous-
ing associations that are registered with the Corporation are also known as Regis-
tered Social Landlords. The Department for Communities and Local Government
has responsibility for housing in England. In January 2007 it announced a planned
merger between the Housing Corporation and regeneration body English Partner-
ships to create the Homes and Communities Agency. This new body is likely to
have access to more than 4 billion in resources.

Currently, policies in U.K. to promote low-income housing include 2:

0 Increase aggregate housing supply

- Government supply targets:

a: Target of 200,000 net completions in 2005 and target of 240,000 net

completions in 2007.
- Short-term success:
a: Achieved 185,150 net completions in 2005 / 06 and 199,240 in 2006 / 07.
- Medium-term challenges:

at Impact of credit crunch particularly severe on new build. Builders

are cutting back capacity.

 

2Fitzner, Grant. (2008). The affordable housing challenge: The UK experience, Department for Com-
munities and Local Government, London.

31

CHAPTER 3: HOUSING FOR THE POOR IN OTHER COUNTRIES

 

* Need to maintain momentum on supply side reforms, and ensure

the industry responds strongly as demand returns.
0 Build more affordable housing

- Government targets:

* 75,000 new homes for social rent over 3 year period, from 2005/06
to 2007/ 08.

a: increase number of gross affordable homes to 70,000 by 2010/ 11,
including 45,000 social rent and 25,000 other intermediate housing.

- Recent trends:
* The first target met: provisional figures from the Housing Corpora-
tion Show that 29,419 (in 2007-08) were provided.

0 Influence household demand

— Changing demographics:

* One-person households account for nearly 70% of projected growth
over next 20 years. One-third are households of 65+ and almost half
belong to 40-65: combination of widowed, divorced and separated

couples and singles.
- Migration:
* Net inward migration is generating about 74,000 new households
a year, mostly younger people, live in couples and shared house-
holds.

0 Reform land use planning

32

CHAPTER 3: HOUSING FOR THE POOR IN OTHER COUNTRIES

 

- Land use is highly concentrated:
at: Urban areas account for four-fifths of the population but only 9% of
land area.

a: The Green Belt accounts for 13% of land use.
- Flaming reforms:
* Planning Bill before parliament -Streamlining the planning system.

* Better co-ordination of infrastructure provision.
- Eco-towns:

* 15 locations short-listed.
* Zero-carbon, affordable developments using green technologies.
a: Target to build five eco-towns by 2016 and up to 10 by 2020.

0 Financial incentives for local authorities

— Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 allows local
authorities to negotiate some community benefit such as infrastructure,

open space, specified proportion of low cost homes.

- Housing and Planning Delivery Grant rewards payments to LAs for de—
livering land for development and delivering house-building relative to

plans.

- Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) is similar to Section 106 but in-
stead of specific requirements, local authorities apply a levy (per roof
or per square metre) on all new developments. It would enable local
authorities to apply a levy for all new developments (residential and

commercial) in their area.

33

CHAPTER 3: HOUSING FOR THE POOR IN OTHER COUNTRIES

 

o Low-Cost Home Ownership schemes

- HomeBuy:

* Open Market, New Build and Social HomeBuy.

* 100 million in spending to assist 2,500 additional first time buyers.

* Improve affordability by offering equity loans of up to 50% of prop-
erty value.

— National Affordable Housing Programme:

* Housing associations can buy new properties from house-builders
at competitive prices.

a: In the first quarter, 1800 homes were bought by housing associa-
tions.

* 840 for low cost home ownership, 935 for social rent.

— Purchase Assistance:

* Grants (1500 to first 2,000) to assist with home-moving costs.

* Extending benefits to beyond key workers and tenants in social rented

sector; including those below household income of 60,000.
0 Support for people facing difficulties

— Support for borrowers:

* Government is working with lenders to provide financial advice

and support for borrowers to initiate and support home ownership.

* Continuous push for development of lenders’ own shared equity

products.

34

CHAPTER 3: HOUSING FOR THE POOR IN OTHER COUNTRIES

 

- Support first time buyers:

* Options to support more first time buyers (e.g. shared equity prod-
ucts).

- Right to buy Right to acquire:
a: Any secure tenant in social housing able to afford can buy.

* Housing association tenants have right to purchase the property

they live in at a discount.
- Repossessions:

* Higher mortgage repayments likely to lead to a rise in reposses-

sions, with a lag.
* Current levels around third of 1991 peak.

* Minimize the rise in house repossessions.

3.2 The effort in US.

 

In US, many scholars were paying more and more attention to poor people.
The academic cognition of urban spaces impelled the clearance of slums and de-
velopment of low-income houses. One of the famous ones is Jacob A. Riis for his
work: The Battle with the Slum. Through his living experience in slum in New
York, he said: "The slum is the enemy of the home. Because of it the chief city of
our land came long ago to be called "The Homeless City". When this people comes
to be truly called a nation without homes there will no longer be any nation." "The
slum complaint had been chronic in all ages, but the great changes which the nine-

teenth century saw, the new industry, political freedom, brought on an acute attack

35

CHAPTER 3: HOUSING FOR THE POOR IN OTHER COUNTRIES

 

which put that very freedom in jeopardy." "Hence, I say, in the battle with the slum
we win or we perish. There is no middle way. We shall win, for we are not letting
things be the way our fathers did. But it will be a running fight, and it is not going
to be won in two years, or in ten, or in twenty. For all that, we must keep on fight-
ing, content if in our time we avert the punishment that waits upon the third and
the fourth generation of those who forget the brotherhood."

In United State, there are also policies to clear slums and provide affordable

houses to low-income people chronologically.

3.2.1 From 19305 to 19605

Before 19205, the housing construction in US. was the personal and local
project. Because of the impact of industrialization and urbanization, many im-
migrants surge into the cities, making housing problem in cities more and more
serious. In 1929, the economic crisis and the Great Depression affected US. a lot.
In order to redevelop economy, the federal government began intervening housing
problem. From 19305, there were a lot of policies to improve housing construction
and solve the median and low-income housing problems.

The National Housing Act of 1934 was passed in order to make housing and
home mortgages more affordable. It created the Federal Housing Administration
(FHA) and the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation. "The FHA prin-
ciple was to stimulate recovery in private mortgage lending and home building by
a system of mortgage insurance protecting the lender against loss in the event of

default by the home buyer." 3

 

3Keith, S. Nathaniel. (1973). Politics and the Housing Crisis since 1930. Universe Books, New
York

36

CHAPTER 3: HOUSING FOR THE POOR IN OTHER COUNTRIES

 

The Housing Act of 1937 was established to mitigate the lack of median and
low-income houses and the poor living condition. The key point is that the US.
government will pay subsidies to local public housing agencies (PHA’S) to improve
living condition for low-income families, while the residents only pay low rent to
PHA. At that time, the government saw public housing as a way to boost economy
during the depression.

The Housing Act of 1949 was a landmark to provide federal financing for
slum clearance programs associated with urban renewal projects in American cities.
It was the first housing act to declare the goal of "a decent home and a suitable liv-
ing environment for every American" 4 The urban renewal projects granted local
urban renewal agencies to accept the federal fund and the right to purchase the
slums. These agencies tore down the shabby buildings in the slum, then integrated

the land and sold to real estate developers by low price.

3.2.2 From 19605 to 19705

During this period, the private market subsidies developed. In 19605, the
housing shortage still existed. The housing policy in this period was to encourage
private developers to build low-income houses.

In 1965, President Johnson argued that "the most crucial new instrument in
our effort to improve the American city is the rent supplement." He proposed a
program to assist low and moderate income renters have subsidies when they
sought public housing.

In 1968, the new policy "rental assistance" was to provide lower interest loan

than normal market interest to real estate developers and required them to provide

 

4Us. Housing Act 1949.

37

CHAPTER 3: HOUSING FOR THE POOR IN OTHER COUNTRIES

 

lower rental to low-income people. Meanwhile, the government offered lower

interest to low-income house purchasers.

3.2.3 After 19705

From 19705, the housing shortage was not the biggest problem, instead, the
rent fee occupied too much for low-income people. That is, the housing supply
in housing market is enough, what the government needs to do is to help tenants
with the rent.

The 1974 Housing and Community Development Act authorized the Section
8 Program and dedicated to sponsoring subsidized housing for low-income fami-
lies and individuals. It included two components: the Section 8 Existing Housing
Program (also known as the rental certificate program). and the Rental Voucher
Program. "Under the rental certificate program, the PHA made subsidy payments
directly to the owners on behalf of the family rather than making payments to the
family; and The rental certificate program imposed a HUD-established ceiling (fair
market rent) on the gross rent for a unit leased under the program. Under the rental
certificate program families generally paid 25 percent of adjusted income toward
the rent; in 1983 this family share increased to 30 percent of adjusted income." 5
The program was similar to the rental certificate program, but it allowed families
more options in housing selection.

In 19905, the Certificate and Voucher Programs were combined closely and
even converse from the Rental Certificate and Rental Voucher Programs to the
Housing Choice Voucher Program to give tenants more options to choose houses

and the rental level.

 

5The History of the Tenant-based Housing Programs, http: / /www.mphaonline.org/ section8.cfm.

38

CHAPTER 3: HOUSING FOR THE POOR IN OTHER COUNTRIES

 

Another milestone of housing program is the Housing Act of 1990, which
created the HOME housing block grant to states and cities similar as the popular,
well-established Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) enacted in 1974.
The HOME program is the largest federal block grant to state and local govem-
ment to create affordable housing for low-income households. It provides grants
to over 600 state and local governments to expand the supply of affordable hous-
ing for low income families. Recently, each year it allocated approximately 2 bil-
lion among the States and hundreds of localities nationwide. Grantees may assist
renters, new homebuyers or existing homeowners through a variety of activities
such as rehabilitation, new construction, acquisition, or tenant-based assistance.

In 1993, a new innovative program was created to correct some of the pre-
vious policy problems in public housing. HOPE VI (Housing Opportunities for
People Everywhere) program was created to provide lump-sum grants of 50 mil-
lion to cities for public housing development as well as demolition, new construc-
tion and social services. It is started with an ambitious plan to "replace severely
distressed public housing projects, occupied exclusively by poor families, with de-
signed mixed income housing and provide housing vouchers to enable some of
the original residents to rent apartments in the private market." 6 Applications
were evaluated "on the extent of revitalization need, the potential impact of plan,
the capabilities of the applicant, the extent of resident involvement, the extent of
involvement of local public and private entities, and the quality of the proposed

social and community service components." 7

 

6Popkin, S. et al. (2004). A Decade of Hope VI: Research Findings and Policy Challenges, Urban
Institute, Retrieved May 2006, from http: / / www.mbanorg/ UploadedPDF / 41 1002_H OPE VI . pd f .

7Abt Associates. (1996) A Historical and Baseline Assessment of HOPE VI (Vol. 1). Washington,
DC: US. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

39

CHAPTER 3: HOUSING FOR THE POOR IN OTHER COUNTRIES

 

There are four objectives of HOPE VI 8:

o to improve the living environment for residents of severely distressed public
housing through the demolition, rehabilitation, reconfiguration , or replace-

ment of obsolete projects;

0 to revitalize sites on which public housing projects are located and contribute

to the improvement of the surrounding neighborhood;

0 to provide housing that will avoid or decrease the concentration of very low-

income families;
0 to build sustainable communities.

According to a report by Popkin et a1, "since 1992, HUD has awarded 446
HOPE VI grants in 166 cities. To date, 63,100 units have been demolished and
another 20,300 units are slated for redevelopment. As of the end of 2002, 15 of 165
funded HOPE VI programs were fully complete."

There is another program to gain wide acceptance which is a relatively new
variation on an old theme-the use of tax system to induce desired housing out-
comes. It is the LIHTC (Low-income Housing Tax Credit) for the low-income rental
housing. In this program, "Individuals and companies who invest in low-income
housing can take a tax credit (a dollar-for-dollar offset against other taxes) equal
to their investment in 10 annual installments. To qualify for tax credit investment,
properties must rent at least 20 percent of their units to households earning 50 per-
cent of the area median income or less, or at least 40 percent of their units to house-

holds earning less than 60 percent of median income. The rents charged may not

 

8Popkin, s. et al. (2004). ibid.

40

CHAPTER 3: HOUSING FOR THE POOR IN OTHER COUNTRIES

 

exceed 30 percent of a household’s income. Units meeting these standards must
remain in service for at least 15 years. As implemented, most developments end
up being 100 percent occupied by renters meeting the 60 percent of median income
standard." 9

In the process of providing low-income housing to poor people, the US De-
partment of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) played a very important
role. As the most important housing department in US, it has 5 core commissions

(Lawrence L. Thompson: A History of HUD):
0 Increasing homeownership (1934).
o Assisting low-income renters (1937).
0 Improving the physical, social and economic health of cities (1949).
0 Fighting discrimination in housing markets (1968).
o Assisting homeless persons with housing and support services (1987).

Many housing acts were issued by them and have great impact on the housing

market at that time and even till today.

 

9Orlebeke, Charles J. (2000) The Evolution of Low-Income Housing Policy, 1949 to 1999, Housing
Policy Debate, Vol. 11, No. 2, pp. 489-520.

41

j

. ' ‘ '~

P’fl‘v

Comparison and analysis

IN this section, I will discuss the current problems in Xi’an to improve poor
people’s living condition, and by discussing the success and failure of foreign
countries, I want to compare the similar and different situation and know whether
the other country’s experience can be used in Xi’an’s low-income housing devel-

opment.

4.1 The problems of urbanized villages’ clearance

and development in Xi’an

 

In order to improve the current poor living condition in urbanized villages

in Xi’an, urban authorities have launched redevelopment projects to demolish the

42

CHAPTER 4: COMPARISON AND ANALYSIS

 

poor housing units built by the native farmers and to set up new commercialized
development constructed by real estate developers according to architecture and
urban planning rules.

However, the government focuses more on the physical environment im-
provement of the city without finding the root of the problem; most of the pro-
grams are not so effective in redeveloping villages.

Firstly, many people, both the landlords and the poor tenants in villages are
strongly against for demolishing and redeveloping the urbanized villages. For
them, the profit and the housing price are the main problems they will concern
about. They prefer urbanized villages rather than the immature current low-income
housing system. The current policy of demolishing and redeveloping the villages
can be devastating for them. On one hand, the landlords will lose all of the income
by renting their cheap houses and have to make another living. Although the gov-
ernment gives them compensation, this is not an eternal income for them. On the
other hand, the tenants, who are mostly low-income migrants, have to find another
shelter, which may be much more expensive than urbanized villages. When such
dissatisfaction and resistance meet the force of the government, sometimes it turns
into violence.

For example, there are two typical development projects in Xi’an.

1. The government directly invests in the project. The Jitai Village near the Sec-
ond Ring Road was a typical urbanized village before, but because of its lo-
cation is an important transportation junction, it now become a wide over-
pass to connect the Second Ring Road and the local road and provide people
around a much better environment and a more convenient transportation

system.

43

CHAPTER 4: COMPARISON AND ANALYSIS

 

2. The government reconstructs the urbanized villages by real estate devel-
opment. Lijia Village was notorious for its dirty, chaos and crowded envi-
ronments before, but now is developed into a big mall with shopping area,
restaurants and cinemas in the lower floors, and high-rise apartments in the
upper floors by Wanqian Real Estate Development Company. It is a very
popular commercial center for people. (See Figure 4.1 1.) Many villages are
now developed as this mode.

In both these two examples, the biggest beneficiary is the urban residents
living around the villages. For them, the living environment is improved a lot and
the community image is much better. But for the poor immigrants who used to live
in urbanized villages, they are forced to leave and have to go to other urbanized
villages which are not cleared. Some of them even have to leave the city if they
can not find a proper place. For the landlords who own the land, the government
compensates them with lump-sum money and a new house. But the compensation
is less than the benefit of they can get from rent fees in urbanized villages. These
landlords are also dissatisfied.

Secondly, for the government, the demolishment and redevelopment is also
a dilemma. If the government demolishes the urbanized villages without proper
compensation, there will be unrest among the residents. If they pay market price,
since municipal governments can hardly afford the big job, they’ll hand it over to
developers, who are unscrupulous and ruthless in kicking out the original resi-
dents in the villages.

Thirdly, urbanized villages’ development is highly related with the location.

Lijia Village is such an example of good location. It is near the most prosperous

 

1Photographed by Bing Ling and Wei Li.

 

CHAPTER 4: COMPARISON AND ANALYSIS

 

 

Figure 4.1: The contrast of the past, under construction and future in Lijia Village.

45

CHAPTER 4: COMPARISON AND ANALYSIS

 

area of Xi’an, with several residential districts and several universities near it, pro-
viding it with sufficient customers. Therefore, the real estate developers would
like to develop it and provide sufficient funds. The ones in the farther area from
the central of the city are not as popular as it. The development is not very effective

because of the lack of fund. The compensation to landlords will be much less.

4.2 The former failure and current success of other

country’s experience

 

Housing for the poor is a long-term problem. The early experience in U.K.
and US were not successful.

When U.K. began to clear the slums and provide affordable housing to poor
people in 19th century, some of the measures work out. Obviously, the living con-
dition of underclass of the society was improved a lot and the slum sprawl was

controlled. However, there were some shortages:

1. The slum is not only a housing problem, but a comprehensive social prob-
lem combined with urbanization, discrimination, social equity, social secu-
rity and poverty. As a result, the public houses by government did improve
people’s living condition, but insulate the low-income class from median and
upper class of the society. Their housing quality and environment are still

much lower than middle class.

2. Although government wanted to clear and redevelop slum by legislation,

but the execution was not so effective. In 1920, the "back-to-back" houses in

46

CHAPTER 4: COMPARISON AND ANALYSIS

 

Leeds were 71% of the total houses 2.

3. The legislation of improving sanitation and housing spaces increased the
costs to build the house, leading the increasing of the rental. Some of the
poor people who can not afford it had to move into other slums, increasing

the population pressure in these slums. Some poor people had to leave the
city.

4. Some of the rental of public houses is high for low-income people’s afford-
ability and only can help the richer group in slums.

After this period, UK is doing well in Social Rented Housing, Low Cost
Home Ownership and Housing Association for increasing affordable housing pro-
vision, stretching public subsidy, integrating affordable housing with market hous-
ing, developing good partnerships with developers and local authorities and de-
veloping housing in areas they could not previously have afforded to do so. Hous-
ing Association plays an especially important role over the last decades of the 20th
century "due to changes to council housing brought in by the Thatcher govem-
ment, when rules were introduced that prevented councils subsidizing their hous-
ing from local taxes, channeled grants for construction of new Social housing to
Housing Associations and allowed Council tenants to buy their homes at a large
discount. This, combined with cost-cutting initiatives in local government and a
housing benefit scheme that was more generous to housing associations than lo-
cal authorities, led to many councils transferring their housing stock to housing

associations." 3

 

2Zhou, Yigang. (2007). The Comparison of Two City Diseases-Urbanized Villages and Western
Slums a Century ago, New Architecture, Vol. 2, pp. 27-31.
3Source: http: / /en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Housi ngassociation History.

47

CHAPTER 4: COMPARISON AND ANALYSIS

 

In US, the urban renewal programs launched around 19505 is extremely
controversial. In 1964, Martin Anderson, launched the conservative critique of
urban renewal in The Federal Bulldozer: A Critical Analysis of Urban Renewal, 1949-
1962. "In my opinion," Anderson wrote, "the federal urban renewal program is
very costly, destructive of personal liberty, and is not capable of achieving the goals
put forth by Congress". He concluded that "the federal urban renewal program
will not achieve these goals as rapidly and effectively as the means employed by
free enterprise-if at all". In Jane Jacobs’s landmark book The Death and Life of Great
American Cities, Jacobs launched "an attack on current city planning and rebuild-
ing". She observed, "There is a wistful myth that if only we had enough money to
spend-the figure is usually put at a hundred billion dollars-we could wipe out all
our slums in ten years, reverse decay in the great dull, gray belts that were yes-
terday’s and day-before-yesterday’s suburbs, anchor the wandering middle class
and its wandering tax money, and perhaps even solve the traffic problem". But
so far the several billions had bought "middle-income housing projects which are
truly marvels of dullness and regimentation, sealed against any buoyancy or vi-
tality of city life, and luxury housing projects that mitigate their inanity, or try to,
with a vapid vulgarity". Moreover, she contended that "the means to planned city
rebuilding are as deplorable as the ends," for "the economics of city rebuilding do
not rest soundly on reasoned investment of public tax subsidies, as urban renewal
theory proclaims, but also on vast, involuntary subsidies wrung out of helpless
site victims". "In other words, urban renewal had used cruel means to achieve
abhorrent ends. Jacobs believed that it destroyed rather than stimulated urban vi-

tality. In her opinion, urban renewal was not just ineffective: It was downright

48

CHAPTER 4: COMPARISON AND ANALYSIS

 

dangerous." 4

Some of the policies began to change under President Lyndon Johnson and
the War on Poverty. In 1968, the Housing and Urban Development Act and The
New Communities Act of 1968 guaranteed private financing for private entrepreneurs
to plan and develop new communities. After that, the Housing and Community
Development Act of 1974 established the Community Development Block Grant
program (CDBG) which began in earnest the focus on redevelopment of exist-
ing neighborhoods and properties, rather than blindly demolition of substandard
housing and economically depressed areas. These policies gradually work well.

Subsequently, the housing voucher program played an important role in
helping to address housing needs for extremely low-income households. The most
important advantage of housing vouchers is that they give recipients the freedom
to choose the kinds of housing and the locations that best meet their needs. As
a result, many voucher recipients live in healthy neighborhoods that offer social,
educational, and economic opportunities for themselves and their children.

The HOPE VI program succeeded in bringing positive changes for public
housing developments, residents and neighborhoods. According to Popkin et al
in his report, it has "achieved important success". "First, the program has accom-
plished its most basic goal, demolishing tens of thousands of severely distressed
housing units, many of which were uninhabitable by any standard", "In many
cities, HOPE VI has replaced these distressed developments with new, high qual-
ity housing and has spurred important innovations in design, management, and

financing", "Through HOPE VI, many former public housing residents received

 

4iTeaford, Jon C. (2000). Urban Renewal and Its Aftermath, Housing Policy Debate, Volume 11,
Issue 2, pp. 443-465.

49

CHAPTER 4: COMPARISON AND ANALYSIS

 

vouchers and were able to relocate to better housing in safer neighborhoods", "Fi-
nally, HOPE VI has generated benefits for the neighborhoods that surrounded
these distressed public housing developments".

LIHTC is another important programs providing affordable housing in the
United States since its inception. Many local housing and community develop-
ment agencies are effectively using the tax credits to increase the supply of afford-

able housing in their community.

4.3 Similarity, difference and learning

 

As many other Chinese cities, Xi’an is just on its threshold of the struggling
way of eliminating poverty and establishing a healthy social welfare system. The
most important issue is the housing provision. As a typical city in a less-developed
province in Western China, Xi’an faces a more rough way. The lack of financial
support from the province government restricts its developing.

Most of the problems in old U.K. and US. are very similar with the result of
redevelopment projects in Xi’an now. Urbanized villages are much like the slums
in western countries. Some of them were rudely torn down and the residents were
expelled. New public houses can not hold so many people; better community is
too expensive. Some poor people live in poorer area or have to leave the city.
Even if being relocated in new house as compensation, they are insulated from
the median and upper class of the society in a low-income community. This failed
experience in both China and other countries tell us that: the slums in the city can
not be eliminated by the rude bulldozers. After the slums are totally demolished,

the homeless people will aggregate in other urban space again spontaneously and

50

CHAPTER 4: COMPARISON AND ANALYSIS

 

form new slums. Moreover, the continuous clearance and abjection will widen the
gap between poor and upper level of the society, call for their rebellion and become
uncontrollable violent conflict.

Therefore, for Xi’an, we should avoid following the old failure of these coun-
tries. Their successful policies after that can be good paradigms for us. However,
Xi’an has some specialities as a typical Chinese medium-size city, which is very
different from western countries and can not directly copy the policies in these
countries.

Firstly, the landownership is different. In China, the urban land is owned by
the nation and province government. It can not be traded privately. The rural land
is owned collectively. It can be transferred within the group, such as a village, but
can not trade with others.

Similarly, decisions about urban development are usually made by secre-
taries of the Municipal Committee of the Communist Party, mayors or managers
rather than by people’s representatives or by professional decision—makers. The
planning commissions in China are usually considered a formalistic entity and are
lack of residents’ participation.

Secondly, the urban HUKOU system is quite different with other countries.
It restricts the free movement between areas, no matter from rural to urban or one
city to another city. When the government took peasants’ farmland during the
urbanization process, they did not absorb these peasants into cities, but leaving
them some collective land for them to live on. The peasants, formerly living in
the villages, now encircled by the city, do not have professional skill and do not
have urban HUKOU, so they are not easy to find a job in city and have to live on
the rental of their houses on the land. This is the origin of urbanized villages. Al-

51

CHAPTER 4: COMPARISON AND ANALYSIS

 

though it is now recognized as an unfair policy and is gradually becoming extinct,
its impact can not be clear in a short time.

Thirdly, the urbanization degree is different. Xi’an is now just at the begin-
ning of the urbanization process. The downtown area is the most prosperous re-
gion in the city and people all like to live near downtown and do not want to move
out. U.K. and US. are now in the process of suburbanization. Wealthy people like
to move out of downtown and the downtown is declining.

Fourthly, there is no clear legislation about urbanized villages in China spe-
cially, although this problem is very common in big and medium cities. In different
area, the government makes different policies without a standard, and sometimes
even has conflicts between policies, so the development is not very effective.

In my opinion, generally speaking, building more affordable housing and
increasing the fund of housing supply is the direct way to provide low-income
housing. However, in Xi’an, the land is very crowd and expensive near the cen-
tral area, additionally, the housing provision is a huge project which can be costly.
Xi’an is lack of financial support because of the ability of the government, so it
is not feasible to totally depend on the fund from local and national government.
In my opinion, firstly, reforming land use planning can be a good way. In Xi’an,
land use is highly concentrated with imbalanced development. The south Xi’an
is the most prosperous area with a good entertainment, education, business atmo-
sphere and also many urbanized villages, but the north, west and east parts are
less-developed because of some old industry’s bankruptcy. Although China does
not have a specific zoning ordinance system, the government can gradually trans-
ferring the development pivot to north, west and east Xi’an. They can make policy

to encourage famous companies in south Xi’an to open branches in the brownfield

52

 

CHAPTER 4: COMPARISON AND ANALYSIS

 

of north, west and east part to promote their economic development and provide
employment, and also encourage universities in south Xi’an (which now have too
many students but small campus on limited land) to set up branches in those parts
of Xi’an to provide potential customers. Meanwhile, the government can encour-
age low-income housing in these areas which is much cheaper than south Xi’an
to provide shelters to attract poor immigrants from urbanized villages. They can
work, they can live, so they are willing to stay. Although the north, west and east
Xi’an can not catch up south Xi’an in a short term, they can be hopeful eco-towns
and will growing better and better.

Secondly, although Chinese government and Shaanxi province government
can not provide sufficient fund like CDBG in US. and also do not have the ability
to let low-income people pay 30% of their income on the house and the govern-
ment pay the left, we can learn from the LIHTC program. It encourages private
developers to build more affordable houses to low-income people by providing
attractive tax credit in 10 years. It is feasible for so many real estate developers in
Xi’an. If the government in Xi’an can make a policy like developers who invest in
low-income housing can take some proportion of tax credit of their investment, I
think it will be very helpful.

Finally, Xi’an has its own problems. The government should launch definite
statute of "urbanized villages’ development", encourage the cooperation of social
non-profit and Non-governmental Organization along with the participation of
residents. What is more important, to solve the HUKOU problem to give every
people the equal rights to work in the city. It is a long way to go.

53

 

Conclusion

In this paper, I first discuss about the current difficulty for low-income people
to buy an affordable house and the current living condition of the poor immigrants
in Xi’an. Because of the immature low-income housing system in Xi’an, many poor
people have to live in urbanized villages, which are very undesirable places in the
city. Then by discussing the experience of U.K. and US. from about a century ago,
I talk about their success and failure, the similarity and difference of Xi’an and
these countries. At last, I discuss which programs in other countries can be used
as a paradigm of Xi’an and what need to avoid. In my opinion, the policies fitting
Xi’an is the land use reformation and tax credit incentives.

A famous Chinese urban planner Iinkui Li said: "The dominating subject of

investigating urban problems, yesterday is architecture, today is economics and

 

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION

 

tomorrow is sociology." 1 This argument concludes and predicts the direction and
prone of urban studies very well. The way of providing low-income housing have
such three processes in both Xi’an and other countries: the early development gen-
erally focused on the physical development from aesthetics and urban space the-
ory; nowadays, the development was dominated by the economic factors rather
than just considering the physical environment. This trend is represented by the
subsidies for real estate development. The third level of the processes is dominated
by social factors. The essential reason of urbanized villages is the social problem.
Urban residents and rural residents are treated unfairly in Chinese HUKOU sys-
tem and the dualistic landownership.

The urbanized village redevelopment and low-income housing is a long and
struggling way. In the short run, the urbanized villages provide affordable hous-
ing to low-income migrants temporarily. We can not tear town them totally, or
it will arouse the strong dissension of poor people. In the long run, the govem-
ment should establish definite legislation, work with the residents, lower the cost
of low-income housing construction, and encourage the cooperation of private de-

velopers by all means.

 

1Zhou, Yigang. (2007). The Comparison of Two City Diseases-Urbanized Villages and Western
Slums a Century ago, New Architecture, Vol. 2, pp. 27-31.

55

 

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