Chinese cities spent less than required on low-rent housing and awarded subsidies to applicants who failed to meet the criteria for the benefit, said the National Audit Office in a report.
Shanghai, Beijing and 20 other Chinese cities reserved less than the 10 percent requirement of land sale proceeds for low-rent housing funds, leading to a deficit of 14.6 billion yuan between 2007 and 2009, said the report, posted on the website of the National Audit Office.
Eighteen cities also granted subsidies worth 4.1 million yuan and assigned 533 rental home units to those who failed to follow the guidelines.
Home prices in China rose for the 19th month in December, though the government tightened real estate measures, including suspending mortgages for third home purchases. The housing ministry is looking at ways to boost the low-rent programmes, where coverage more than tripled to 2.5 million households from 2007 to 2009, said the audit office.
Nanjing and 12 other Chinese cities found it hard to find enough tenants for low-rent homes, since they are in remote locations and are, therefore, not easily accessible, said the report. Four counties and six cities also misused a combined 152 million yuan for other purposes, it added.
The report said the 19 municipalities and provinces covered in the audit raised a total of 64.2 billion yuan to fund low-rent housing construction and subsidies. Some cities reserved less than the 10 percent requirement, mainly because they believed they had raised adequate funding, it said.