Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 443 doesn't specify the purchase quantity, does it?

Uncle Wang asked, "Are there any restrictions? How many families are on each floor of this building?"

Xiao Liu said, "Restrictions? Three businesses on one floor, Director Wang, what kind of restrictions are you referring to?"

Uncle Wang asked, "How tall will our new building be?"

Xiao Liu said, "Seven floors, four units per building, twelve buildings in total. Director Wang, what you mean by the restrictions are whether there are enough houses to allocate? Yes, there are. Not many people have bought houses. Most comrades already have houses. Those who meet the conditions for buying more houses are basically in older buildings, since it costs money."

Then each building also has a cadre apartment, a separate unit with two households per floor. Director Wang, how many do you want to buy? Hehe, I heard your son-in-law is a rich man. Why don't you rent an entire cadre apartment building? The director is worried about funds. If we don't have the funds, the building will be hard to sell.

The director gave us a task in the meeting this morning, saying to try to persuade everyone to buy a unit. I've been working on it all day, and all I can say is that you, Director Gao and Director Wang, should buy one. She lowered her voice and said, "Many of the older comrades think that even if we don't pay, this building will definitely be built. Maybe after it's built, we can get a share without spending any money. They're just delusional."

Uncle Wang asked, "Which level of cadre is referred to in the 'cadre building'?"

Xiao Liu said, "For those at the deputy division chief level and above, the size isn't based on rank. Since it's a collective investment, everyone can decide how big they want to buy. Each floor of the cadre building has two units: one side has a large three-bedroom unit, and the other side has a five-bedroom unit. The three-bedroom unit is 120 square meters, and the five-bedroom unit is 160 square meters. Director Wang, wait a minute, are you using your home phone? I'll call you back in a bit."

Uncle Wang hung up the phone and said, "They've built quite a few, over a thousand households, but they said not many people bought them. Something might have happened. I'll call back in a bit."

In 91, although the welfare housing program had been officially declared over at the highest level, it was not actually implemented until 98. Before 95, there was a lot of talk about collectively funded housing, but little action was taken, and many people were just waiting and seeing.

Back then, seniority was used to offset the cost of a house. A worker who had worked for 20 years could buy out a 90-square-meter welfare house for just over 4,000 yuan, which was about 40 yuan per square meter.

However, housing built through collective financing was on average four times more expensive, or even six or eight times more expensive. To be honest, in those days, several thousand yuan was a huge sum of money. To take out tens of thousands of yuan at once, one had to borrow it. As long as there was a place to live, most people wouldn't dare to do so, nor would they be willing to part with it.

During that period, the main buyers of collectively funded housing were cadres or active families with businesses. These people only constituted a small portion of any work unit. Collectively funded housing was organized by the work unit; those who were not employees of the unit, even if they had money, were not eligible.

Collective housing is a policy-based housing project where the government transitions from welfare housing to commercial housing. It involves the government providing land free of charge, with the work unit and employees jointly bearing the construction costs. Later, collective housing was incorporated into the affordable housing category, and this policy has been retained to this day, although the review process has become increasingly strict.

In 2012, the average price of government-subsidized housing in Chongqing was 1,600 yuan per square meter, while in Liaodong it was 1,300 yuan per square meter. Truly good value for money. In 2010, I visited the government-subsidized housing complex of the Northern Ordnance Industry Group, which displayed large banners advertising affordable housing, priced at 1,750 yuan per square meter, with the smallest unit costing only 210 yuan. A certain public security, procuratorate, and court-subsidized housing complex had a unit price of 1,800 yuan per square meter, requiring a load-bearing column in the middle of the living room.

……

Xiao Wei asked, "How big is the cadre building?"

Uncle Wang said, "They said it's two units per floor, one side with three rooms for 120 yuan, and one side with five rooms for 160 yuan. They said I'd be charged 126.3 yuan per square meter."

Xiao Wei did the math in his head: a 160-square-meter apartment for around 20,000 yuan. At that time, the average price in Fengtian was about 600-700 yuan per square meter, so it was a good deal. And this was a new building! Back then, there were no unfurnished apartments; ordinary housing had smooth cement floors, white walls, and wooden doors. Cadre apartments had ceramic tiles and floor tiles.

Xiao Hong said, "Let's ask if we can buy one floor. If we're going to buy one floor, let's open up the middle section."

Xia Maosheng did some calculations and said, "Hey, this building costs about the same as the one we bought in Xingcheng. Is it more expensive there or cheaper here?"

Geng Hui nudged Xia Maosheng with her shoulder and said, "It's cheaper here, isn't it? This is a collectively funded housing project, not sold at market price."

Xia Maosheng pointed at Geng Hui and said to Xiao Wei, "She nudged me with her shoulder, she nudged me with her shoulder!"

Xiao Hong said, "What's wrong with nudging you?"

Xia Maosheng said, "Today she even leaned against me. Before, she would blush if I sat close to her, and she would get angry if I held her hand in public. But she's changed these past two days, she's changed so much since we've been together every day."

Geng Hui's face flushed crimson, and she lowered her head without saying a word. Xiao Hong patted Xia Maosheng and said, "My condolences." Xia Maosheng was stunned for a moment and looked at Geng Hui: "Damn, I got too excited. Honey, I was happy, a little too happy to be proud. It wasn't intentional. From now on, let's just be like we were just now." Geng Hui lowered her head and didn't say a word, shifting her body to the side.

The phone rang, and Uncle Wang answered it.

"Director Wang, I'm sorry for earlier, I had to go upstairs to get a document. We plan to build a total of 1,176 houses this time, and we plan to raise 16.53 million yuan. The deadline is the end of next month, and construction must start by the end of next month. We are currently leveling the site."

Uncle Wang asked, "How much have you collected so far?"

Xiao Liu said, "I just went over to pick up some documents. We've raised a total of over 5.4 million yuan. The department has assigned us a task, and our office needs to raise 400,000 yuan to submit by the end of next month. Right now, all the people in our office who plan to buy houses have less than 60,000 yuan in total."

The Construction Department has 23 offices, plus subordinate units such as the Urban Construction Bureau, Housing Management Bureau, Construction Company, Enforcement Team, and Motor Transport Team, with a total of more than 3,000 employees.

However, the housing issue cannot be viewed solely based on the number of employees. The welfare housing policy also included a re-housing policy. Once an employee's child turned twelve, they could apply for housing from their work unit. Back then, there was no mandatory family planning policy, and it was common for families to have three, four, or even five children. And let's not forget the retired cadres; their families often had generations waiting for housing.

This was also a key factor in the government's decision to stop providing welfare housing. Just like the later social security system, the burden on retired workers was simply too heavy, crushing countless businesses of all sizes. It had to be changed.

In fact, the housing provident fund was a policy created due to the reform of welfare housing, allowing employees to continue to enjoy national housing subsidies, which can be considered a form of welfare housing in disguise, only it hasn't risen as fast as housing prices. It can't keep up, and it's in a desperate situation.

Uncle Wang thought for a moment and tentatively asked, "There's no limit to the amount each person can buy, right?"

Xiao Liu said with a smile, "I was just talking to the director about this when I was getting the documents. I said if we couldn't raise the money, we could have Director Wang rent the whole building. The director said okay, as long as we can ensure the normal start of construction, everyone can think of a way."

Uncle Wang said, "Won't the other comrades have any objections then?"

Xiao Liu said, "What's your problem? Does he mean others can't buy just because he doesn't want to? He's dragging everyone down and he still has the nerve to call himself a contributor? Everyone's waiting to see who's responsible if the houses aren't built in the end? Them?" Xiao Liu was an old-timer in the living room, and he didn't mince words.

(End of this chapter)