Following being forced out of air-raid shelters they're on move

The fate of an estimated 1 million people who are being displaced from their homes in former air-raid shelters in the capital was a hot topic at the ongoing session of the CPPCC Beijing committee on Tuesday.

The former shelters had been a cheap source of housing for mainly migrant workers - known as the "mouse tribe" - but that is all ending this year as the authorities have been evicting them and putting the shelters to other uses.

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Lu Jiehua, professor of sociology at Peking University, explained that the mass evictions were started for two reasons.

First, because the capital wanted to keep its population in check and, by closing the cheap sources of accommodation, migrant workers would be discouraged from settling in Beijing, Lu said.

Secondly, the tragic fire in Shanghai late last year raised the public's awareness of such risks and made the underground homes seem particularly unsafe.

"With so many people crowded into these underground spaces, a series of accidents could happen at any time," Lu said.

In future, the former air-raid shelters will only be available for public uses but will not be available for private use.

Lu said the lack of supervision of the way the former air-raid shelters were being used was another reason why the practice was ended.

However, he explained that there are still many bridges to cross before the mass evictions can be completed smoothly.

"As of Feb 1, there will still be many tenants who will not have ended their rental contracts. Who is going to compensate them for their economic losses? And how will the compensation be standardized so the same rules apply to everyone?" Lu asked.

"In the long term, because the city will always need migrant workers to support its economy, how can we make new population policies that provide better social services to them?"

Lu suggested that the local government thoroughly consider the issue before making any new policies.

"I think limiting the size of the population is not the only thing that matters. First of all, we need to do in-depth studies of the floating population so that policies will be made more scientifically to produce better results."

Several committee members mentioned in group discussions that the government should make efforts to develop more low-rent housing and public rent housing and that it should give subsidies to companies that accommodate their employees.

"Beijing needs a large number of migrant people in the service sectors," said Li Zhe, vice-chairman of LVC Investment Co.

"There must be some ways to guarantee their life after the air-raid shelters become unavailable."

Hu Weiming, a committee member, suggested turning the former air-raid shelters into community activity centers, public gyms and parking lots.

Hu carried out a study on the use of underground space in the Chang'an community, Fengtai district, where 460 out of 1,000 square meters of air-raid-shelter space was being used for schools, free table tennis rooms and offices for local sports associations.

"More functional space should be moved underground to leave precious patches of land above ground for environmental beautification," Hu said.

According to statistics from the Beijing Bureau of Civil Defense, as of Nov 20, more than 60 percent of the about 5,300 air-raid shelters across the city were being used.

Among them, 70 percent were being used for public activities such as community centers, metro stations, underground parking areas, emergency command centers and for the storage of resources.