How to make rural dilapidated house renovation funds go where they are most needed
On the rural house safety appraisal form of 66-year-old villager Kang Xuelin, all 5 items, including site safety level, foundation, and upper load-bearing structure, were rated D, meaning serious, meeting the requirements for rural dilapidated house renovation.
What should be done when a rural house becomes dilapidated? At present, the 26.69 billion yuan in subsidy funds for rural dilapidated house renovation arranged in the 2016 central government budget has all been allocated, to support localities in completing the renovation of dilapidated houses for 3.14 million poor rural households. Once the subsidies are allocated, how does one apply? Who supervises the renovation quality? How can funds be prevented from being intercepted and misappropriated? Recently, a reporter interviewed people in Jiangsu, which is included in the national pilot program for rural dilapidated house renovation, to learn about the local rural dilapidated house renovation process.
Quotas are allocated to the most impoverished people
Kang Xuelin's new home, built after his dilapidated house renovation application was approved last year, is a single-story bungalow with two bedrooms and a living room, plus a pointed roof to prevent water accumulation. Almost everyone in Xinji Community, Longchi Subdistrict, Luhe District, Nanjing, knows his new home.
"The old house was built in 1981. The walls are leaning, and it leaks badly. I wanted to move to a new house but did not have the means." Kang Xuelin has stomach cancer, and his wife has arthritis; both have lost the ability to work, and the family's 3 or 4 mu of farmland has long been left uncultivated. Their son is unemployed and does not live with them, so the elderly couple can only rely on the 500 yuan subsidy for former village officials issued by the community and help from Kang's sister.
In early last year, the subdistrict publicized the rural dilapidated house renovation policy in the community. Kang Xuelin then applied to Longchi Subdistrict and submitted a family poverty certificate issued by the community. Later, staff from the Urban Construction Section of Longchi Subdistrict came to the elderly man's home to appraise the quality of the old house.
At that time, a total of 5 villagers in Xinji Community had applied for renovation, and the community convened a villagers' representative review meeting. Lin Kun, director of Xinji Community, told the reporter that although 3 of the households also had problems such as leaking, their applications were not approved because they did not meet the conditions for determining eligibility for dilapidated house renovation.
Starting in September last year, each village and community checked household by household, collected information on impoverished groups, reported it to the housing and urban-rural development departments, and entered it into a database. Housing and urban-rural development departments at or above the district level could all view it, using it as a reference and for screening, and tilting quota allocation toward poor households in economically weak areas. The day after the review meeting was held, the "dilapidated house renovation public notice" came out and was posted in the community notice board, small shops, in front of people's homes, and other places.
Pan Chunchun, deputy director of Longchi Subdistrict, said that precisely because there is a database and public disclosure of the information of applying households, all situations are clear at a glance. Whether quota allocation is fair is seen by the masses, and anyone who wants to "solicit more votes" or "pull strings" will not get anywhere.
Eligible households went through review and public disclosure at the subdistrict and district levels respectively, and signed a "Renovation Agreement," which clearly stipulated that the household would find a construction team to carry out construction according to the dilapidated house renovation standards, complete it within the year, and accept acceptance inspection; the subdistrict would do a good job in service coordination and allocate funds in a timely manner.
Acceptance inspection by three departments, with public disclosure throughout the review process
Kang Xuelin recalled that during the more than 20 days of construction, "several groups of people came to check the quality, and they also took photos." The "several groups of people" he mentioned refers to departments including housing and urban-rural development, civil affairs, and finance at the town and subdistrict, district, and city levels.
In Jiangsu, a joint conference system was specially established for rural dilapidated house renovation work, with a vice governor in charge serving as convener. Each city, county (city, district), town, and village also set up a corresponding leading body for rural dilapidated house renovation work. "Civil affairs verifies identity, housing and urban-rural development supervises quality, and finance distributes funds. The work of the three departments runs through every link from application to acceptance inspection," introduced Gu Ping, chief of the Village and Town Construction Management Section of the Luhe District Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau.
To prevent quality problems during renovation, Jiangsu strengthened the training and supervision of construction artisans undertaking rural dilapidated house renovation. For key construction stages such as the house foundation and main structure, supervisory personnel had to be present to guide and inspect, and when anything failing to meet requirements was found, the building household was immediately informed and rectification suggestions were put forward. At the acceptance stage after water and electricity were connected, relevant district-level departments, together with the subdistrict, also carried out acceptance inspection of house quality, account records, and so on, and those that passed were confirmed and signed on site; at the end of each year, municipal-level departments then conducted spot checks at a ratio of 15%.
"The most important thing in supervising construction quality is safety." The staff member responsible for on-site acceptance inspection told the reporter that on-site supervision strictly follows relevant provincial and municipal requirements for acceptance inspection, mainly checking load-bearing structures such as walls, beams, and columns, while doors, windows, walls, and so on must also meet regulatory requirements. A small number failed on-site acceptance inspection. For example, some load-bearing walls had cracks that needed thorough renovation, but to save trouble they were only temporarily patched; and a few families had only 2 or 3 people living in them, yet built a 2-story house or more than 100 sq m, exceeding the requirement of 13-18 sq m per person.
Subsidies are paid into individual accounts through a single card
"The rebuilding cost nearly 60,000 yuan in total. The three-level subsidy from the province, city, and district was 21,000 yuan, and the other more than 30,000 yuan was raised by myself." What money made up the subsidy Kang Xuelin received?
According to reports, during the "12th Five-Year Plan" period, the central government's subsidy standard for rural dilapidated house renovation in Jiangsu was an average of 7,500 yuan per household. Jiangsu, based on local economic development levels, renovation methods, and other conditions, coordinated central financial subsidy funds and determined the province's rural dilapidated house renovation subsidy standards. In 2015, subsidies were divided into two categories and six tiers, specifically: for rebuilding or new construction, the subsidy per household was 12,000 yuan in northern Jiangsu, 11,000 yuan in central Jiangsu, and 10,000 yuan in southern Jiangsu; for repair and reinforcement, the subsidy per household was 6,000 yuan in northern Jiangsu, 6,500 yuan in central Jiangsu, and 7,000 yuan in southern Jiangsu. For seismic renovation of rural houses, 1,500 yuan was added per household on the basis of these standards.
In addition to provincial-level subsidies, cities and districts also provided matching subsidies according to actual conditions. Taking Luhe District, Nanjing, where Kang Xuelin is located, as an example, the municipal-level subsidy was 6,000 yuan for renovation and 3,500 yuan for repair and reinforcement, and the district-level subsidy was 5,000 yuan for each. In other words, the three-level subsidy Kang Xuelin could receive was 21,000 yuan.
Some poor households reported that although the 21,000 yuan subsidy was already quite considerable, they still needed to raise a large part themselves, so some hesitated. A small number of families, after renovation, had no money to buy furniture and had to temporarily sleep on makeshift floor bedding as a transition. Some families also needed to rely on help from relatives and friends or subsidies from the village community through other channels in order to fully install supporting facilities.
At the end of each year, the district finance department transfers the three-level subsidy funds it receives in a lump sum to the subdistrict, which then issues them to each farming household's account through a single card. In addition, subsidies are often only received after the house is built and passes acceptance inspection, so villagers need to raise funds themselves in the early stage. Dai Zhifa, a staff member handling agriculture-related funds at the Longchi Subdistrict Finance Office, admitted frankly that in some places in the past, after farming households received subsidies, they were unwilling to use them to improve house quality and instead used them to buy things or even gamble, violating usage rules. Issuing them after year-end acceptance inspection is intended to ensure that special funds are implemented in place.