3) Vice premier: Ensure quality and fair allocation of subsidized housing

Meeting with officials in north China's Hebei Province last week, Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang called on local authorities to guarantee the quality and appropriate distribution of subsidized housing. Fair allocation of subsidized housing are the "lifeline" of these projects, Li said. Local governments should establish concrete measures to ensure the houses go to those who need them the most, he added. Beijing hopes to build 36 million state-subsidized housing units over the next five years, providing houses for city dwellers priced out of the country's overheated real estate market. The government also aims to increase the proportion of urban households living in subsidized apartments to one fifth by 2015 from an estimated 11 percent at the end of 2007.