[Keywords:] urban vulnerable groups housing problems residential class
I. Research background and theory.
Housing is a scarce resource related to the vital interests of residents in modern urban society. With the accelerating marketization of housing resources, housing not only meets people's living needs, but also becomes an important symbol of wealth. The allocation of housing resources has become one of the important social indicators to measure the social stratification of urban residents. Due to the objective existence of differences in residents' monetary payment ability and housing acquisition mechanism, different levels of urban residents have different opportunities and abilities to obtain housing resources, so the housing differences of urban residents are gradually expanding.
With the establishment of market economy and the development of social economy, the income of Chinese residents has generally increased, and more and more families have got rid of poverty and achieved a well-off life. At the same time, the personal income gap has gradually widened. The life problems faced by the disadvantaged groups in the market competition, especially the housing problem, are further highlighted. Since the late 1990s, the housing problem in China has become the focus of various contradictions. The problem of urban housing vulnerable groups has aroused widespread concern in all aspects. Urban housing vulnerable groups refer to the group of people who are difficult to obtain social average housing because of the restriction of purchasing power or social identity. Among them, purchasing power is the main criterion. In the demand for urban housing, the vulnerable groups mainly include low-income residents in the original cities and floating urban residents with migrant workers as the main body.
According to the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, "everyone has the right to a standard of living necessary for maintaining the health and welfare of himself and his family, including food, clothing, housing, medical care and necessary social services; In case of unemployment, illness, disability, widowhood, aging or other uncontrollable circumstances, they have the right to enjoy security. " Therefore, the establishment of social housing security system in China, so that everyone can enjoy good housing, is an important content to protect people's basic right to subsistence, and also an important symbol of social and economic development in China.
The theory of housing stratum provides a new perspective for us to study the housing problem of urban vulnerable groups. Dellner John Rex, a representative of British new urban sociology, pointed out that capitalist production, class conflict and the state are all directly related to the transformation of cities into "creative environments", in which housing plays an extremely important role in class formation and class conflict. Rex believes that the acquisition of different quality housing in cities is not only determined by economic factors, but also the product of the operation process through market mechanism and bureaucracy. The investment of state and private capital in urban housing promotes the rise of "housing market" and produces different "housing classes" for different housing ownership.
Housing can be divided into five categories: (65,438+0) people who really own their own houses and buy people who live in the most satisfactory areas through cash; (2) Owning such houses by means of mortgage loans; (3) Families who own houses through mortgage loans but are located in dissatisfied areas; (4) people who live in government rented houses; (5) Living in a private rental house. Under normal circumstances, the national housing provided by the state is relatively high-quality and low-priced, but the qualification restrictions and the review of housing loans are very complicated. Whether you can own a national residence must go through fierce competition, which is often the result of the balance of bureaucratic, market and economic factors. Therefore, in Rex's view, whether it can pass qualification restriction and loan review are two main aspects of class struggle for housing; Popularizing national housing provided by the state is another important issue of the workers' movement. In the whole city, between the class with housing and the class without housing, between the class with good housing and the class with poor housing, the struggle caused by housing has triggered continuous social conflicts.
Second, the analysis of the causes of housing weakness
The housing problem has always been a concern of governments all over the world, which is not only related to people's survival, but also related to a country's economic development and social stability. Therefore, governments all over the world regard the housing system as an important position in economic life and social security. The reasons for the housing problems of urban vulnerable groups are as follows:
1? The system reform in the transitional period is an important economic reason for the housing problem of urban vulnerable groups. Large-scale reform of state-owned enterprises and restructuring of enterprises have resulted in a large number of redundant staff under the original system, and a considerable number of people have been laid off and become vulnerable groups. After the reform and opening up, the wealth distribution policy of "giving priority to efficiency and giving consideration to fairness" objectively led to the polarization between the rich and the poor, and the distribution of vulnerable groups appeared. The country's inclination to industrial and regional policies has also led to the economic advantages of industries and regions, and even a certain economic monopoly. All these have aggravated the polarization between the rich and the poor and social stratification of urban residents to a certain extent.
2? In recent years, housing prices have been rising all over the country, which has become an important reason affecting the housing problems of urban vulnerable groups. Since 2004, the average selling price of commercial housing in China has been accelerating. Although the government has issued a series of control policies, such as the supply of low-priced land, low-rent housing, price-limited commercial housing and affordable housing, it still cannot change this trend. People who really need housing can't afford it and the rising house prices have become a pair of sharp contradictions. While the national housing prices are rising, housing vacancy rate is also rising rapidly. According to the monthly situation report of the national real estate market released by the National Bureau of Statistics, as of the end of February 2008, the vacant area of commercial housing in China was 1? 6.4 billion square meters, an increase of 2 1? 8%。 On the other hand, there are tens of millions of families in China whose per capita living area is less than 10 square meter. The contradiction between the demand for housing and the inability to own housing is particularly prominent among the urban vulnerable groups. The rapid development of cities leads to the increase of floating population, the speculative component of urban housing, the increase of housing cost and vacancy rate, and the further decline of the status of vulnerable groups.
3? The transformation of the old city has intensified the marginalization of the vulnerable groups. With the acceleration of urbanization in China, urban construction and development are changing with each passing day. As the basic premise of urban construction, transformation and expansion, the scale of urban house demolition is expanding day by day, and the problem of infringing on the legitimate rights and interests of urban vulnerable groups is becoming increasingly prominent. Many relocated households have good shopping, traveling and living conditions in their original places of residence in the city center, and the school district is also good. Once relocated, middle-and high-income groups can choose new communities with high livability, while the disadvantaged groups can only be forced to accept low-end communities on the edge of relatively remote cities because they can't accept high-priced houses in the city center, which brings inconvenience to their daily lives, troubles to their children's schooling and a strong sense of gap to their psychology.
4? Personal economic strength is also an important reason for the housing weakness of some urban residents. With the acceleration of the marketization of housing resources, the ability of monetary payment plays an increasingly important role in the process of housing differentiation of urban residents. Personal labor ability includes physiological labor ability and technical labor ability. Those who are at a disadvantage in culture, physical strength and skills are first eliminated by the market competition mechanism, losing their original stable jobs and good welfare, and being forced to withdraw from the market competition because of their low comprehensive quality, thus becoming a social vulnerable group. Students who have just joined the work do not have much savings. Most of them choose to live in the urban-rural fringe and other places where the rent is relatively cheap, and the rent accounts for an important proportion of their monthly expenses. They may become a new vulnerable group in urban housing.
Third, solve the housing problem of vulnerable groups.
It is the unshirkable responsibility of the government to solve the housing problem of low-income groups. The increasingly weak urban vulnerable groups have hindered the process of urbanization and the harmonious development of society. How to further transform government functions in urban construction and development, protect the legitimate rights and interests of vulnerable groups, and correctly handle and solve the relationship between urban development and the interests of the broad masses of the people has become a realistic and important topic in building a harmonious socialist society in China.
1? Establish and improve the housing social security system, crack down on malicious speculation of real estate price increases, and gradually determine the development ideas of housing marketization in practice. How to reform the housing system and how to make the housing policy reasonable and meet the needs of most people are urgent problems to be solved. Under such a government-led redistribution system as China, it is impossible to completely get rid of the interference of government forces in the allocation process of important social resources related to the national economy and people's livelihood, such as housing. As early as the country made the decision to stop housing distribution in kind and monetize housing distribution, the housing supply system was adjusted accordingly, that is, the lowest-income families rented low-rent housing provided by the government or units, middle-and low-income families bought affordable housing, and other high-income families bought and leased commercial housing at market prices, and proposed to establish and improve the housing supply system based on affordable housing. At the same time, China's urban housing system has experienced more than 20 years of development, and gradually transformed into marketization and commercialization. However, in the process of actual housing allocation, the development of social housing security system lags far behind the construction of housing marketization system, and the coverage of security is small, the form is single, the source of funds is uncertain, and the local implementation policies are not in place, which objectively limits the development of affordable housing. It is of great significance to construct a perfect social security system for urban housing vulnerable groups. The government should take measures to crack down on the use of information asymmetry to create the illusion of rising house prices and mislead consumers and speculative buyers to ensure the healthy and orderly development of the housing market.
2? Consider the problem of housing supply as a family unit and build housing suitable for the needs of vulnerable groups. As the smallest organizational unit of human life, family is closely inseparable and often appears as a whole in social life. The purchasing power of urban housing examines the overall monetary payment ability of all family members, not just individual family members. Generally speaking, income and demand are positively related. On the whole, the difference of urban residents' monetary payment ability is characterized by the low sales price of commercial housing, while on the individual level, it is characterized by obvious differences in housing stratification. Therefore, in the actual allocation of housing resources, the structure and geographical location of Xing Tao will be directly linked to the residents' ability to pay in money. The proportion of high-grade housing is too high, which has exceeded the affordability of low-and middle-income people in China. Facing the huge urban low-income groups, the government is unable to meet its strong demand for housing. Developing small apartments and low-rent housing in urban fringe or non-urban central areas is in line with the interests of low-income groups and is a realistic way to meet the housing needs of families with low housing capacity. It can promote the rational layout of housing development and reduce the cost of real estate, thus reducing the total cost of buying a house for families; At the same time, the reasonable distribution of urban population objectively promotes the external expansion of urban areas and accelerates the pace of urbanization. With the continuous improvement of the surrounding environment, the costs of transportation, education and employment are reduced, and the overall purchasing power of consumers is relatively improved, with obvious comparative advantages.
3? Solve the residential segregation of social strata and promote the integration of all social strata. Since the 1980s, large-scale old city reconstruction and real estate development in new districts have shaped high-income residential areas, such as luxury villas, high-grade apartments and high-standard residential areas, middle-and low-income residential areas dominated by housing projects and economical and practical residential areas, and low-income residential areas, such as decaying old city blocks, old public houses with poor economic benefits, self-built humble houses and new low-rent houses built by the government. The emergence of "social stratification" in residential areas has intensified the opposition of social classes. It is an inevitable requirement of building a harmonious society to build a compact new city suitable for different income classes, take into account the interests of different social classes as much as possible, and minimize the residential isolation of different interest groups and social classes. By reducing the alienation of low-income residents in community and space, we can realize spatial decentralization, thus increasing and enhancing the diversity and vitality of society. On the other hand, high-income residential areas also need a large number of low-end service industry practitioners to provide services for them. Through close communication with the high-income class, it is helpful to enhance mutual understanding, improve the viability of the low-income class, resolve the class gap, and thus realize the integration of all social classes.
4? Improve the public's awareness of participating in community planning and strengthen the concept of eco-city. As a subsystem of the whole society, the development of community has great influence on the benign operation and coordinated development of society. Especially in the 1990s, the housing reform and the construction of social security system weakened the functions of units, the public affairs of communities gradually increased, and residents became more and more dependent on communities. With the cultivation, development and perfection of the market economy system, the awareness of civil society and autonomy has been enhanced, and people should be encouraged to join the society, thus alleviating the psychological gap caused by the marginalization of urban vulnerable groups. With the rapid development of urban construction in China, the protection of urban features and historical and cultural cities is facing new challenges and impacts. The modernization of a city is not only reflected in the modernization of facilities, but also in the high-level environmental quality and high-level residents' quality. Therefore, post-modern urban planning attaches importance to the protection of ancient buildings, reproduces historical context, embodies urban characteristics, and emphasizes the strengthening of cultural cohesion of urban residents.
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In modern civilized society, the right of residence is the most basic right of survival of citizens in every country. The core of building a harmonious socialist society is to let people live and work in peace and contentment. Living and working in peace and contentment is a livelihood issue. Let the vast majority of low-income residents "live and work in peace and contentment", which is conducive to social stability and lays a material foundation for realizing a harmonious socialist society. Urban housing vulnerable groups should also be treated differently. Owning a small property right house is the first choice for low-income urban residents, and renting a house near the workplace may be more affordable than floating population. On the other hand, there is still a "dilemma" in improving the housing of urban vulnerable groups, that is, whether it is affordable housing, price-limited housing or resettlement housing, it must be based on considerable economic strength, while those families with poor real housing conditions and poor incomes need help most, but it is difficult to get housing. There is still a long way to go to truly realize "home ownership".