Open AccessWhy Does the Government Fail to Improve the Living Conditions of Migrant Workers in S hanghai? Reflections on the Policies and the Implementations of Public Rental Housing under Neoliberalism
Author(s) -
Shen Yang
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
asia and the pacific policy studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.529
H-Index - 14
ISSN - 2050-2680
DOI - 10.1002/app5.71
Subject(s) - neoliberalism (international relations) , affordable housing , renting , rental housing , government (linguistics) , public housing , peasant , public policy , economic growth , business , economics , political science , political economy , law , linguistics , philosophy
How to get affordable housing is the primary concern of many peasant migrants working in Shanghai. Although the central government has issued a series of policies regarding migrant housing in recent years, they are merely rhetoric and incapable to meet migrant workers' needs. This article aims to interrogate why the public housing policy cannot solve migrant housing problems and what neoliberalism means in housing provision. It is argued that the neoliberal approaches embedded in public rental housing implementation show that the government prioritises public rental housing for the middle class, which is considered important to the economy, and ignores the others. The prioritisation gives rise to the failure of providing affordable housing to peasant migrant workers. Living in safe and affordable housing is vital to their well‐being and the sustainable economic growth in urban C hina. Policy advice is addressed in the conclusion.