CPPCC National Committee Member Hong Jie: Fill Gaps in Old Residential Community Renovation, Transform "Old Houses" into "Good Houses"

China Youth Daily · China Youth Network Reporter Zhou Weii

“Currently, China’s urbanization has entered a critical stage of quality improvement in existing housing stock, and people’s housing needs are shifting from ‘having a place to live’ to ‘living well’ at an accelerated pace,” said Hong Jie, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and Chairman and CEO of SKSHU Paints Co., Ltd., in an interview with China Youth Daily · China Youth Network. He stated that building safe, comfortable, green, and smart “good houses” has become a core task for improving people’s livelihoods and urban renewal.

This year’s government work report proposed to promote the orderly construction of safe, comfortable, green, and smart “good houses,” and to implement projects to improve housing quality and property service standards. Regarding how to transform more “old houses” into “good houses,” Hong Jie offered specific suggestions from multiple perspectives, including legal safeguards, policy support, financial innovation, and market regulation.

He recommended accelerating the introduction of laws and regulations for full lifecycle management of housing, incorporating key requirements such as regular inspections and the use of green building materials into legal frameworks. He also suggested improving industry standards and establishing strong supervision mechanisms, cracking down on false green labels in the market, and ensuring standards like the “General Principles for Material Selection” are effectively implemented.

Hong Jie called for continuing and optimizing national subsidies in the home building materials sector, especially increasing support for aging-in-place, smart, and energy-saving renovations, and suggested including related construction costs in subsidy coverage.

Additionally, he proposed innovative financial tools, such as launching a “Home Renovation Special Loan” offering low-interest support for 3-5 years, and establishing detailed regulations for overdue payments and usage of maintenance funds in old neighborhoods, along with creating green emergency repair channels to improve fund utilization efficiency.

To address some chaos in the home renovation market, Hong Jie recommended establishing a market access system for renovation, promoting standardized construction, transparent pricing, and full-process traceability; improving credit evaluation and after-sales systems, cultivating brand enterprises, strengthening market supervision, cracking down on disorderly construction, and safeguarding consumers’ legal rights.

He also suggested setting up a special fund for technological innovation in urban renewal, vigorously supporting the integration of green building materials, smart home technologies, and energy-saving techniques through industry-university-research collaboration. By establishing “Good House” technology application pilot projects, promoting mature and cost-effective renovation technologies, improving renovation quality, and lowering renovation barriers.

Source: China Youth Daily Client