ABSTRACT
Providing housing for migrants who live in cities is a challenge that faces all developing countries. In China more than 100 million migrants live in cities and towns. So far, the government has made no major effort to provide affordable housing for them. At the same time, China’s cities do not have the kinds of largescale slum settlements that are found in the cities of other developing countries. This, however, does not mean that China has solved the housing problems of migrants. To the contrary, most migrant workers live in poor conditions either at their work sites or in low-quality housing concentrated at the urban-rural interface zones. It is very common for several migrants or families to share a room. Essential facilities such as water, electricity and toilets in migrant areas are usually poor quality. Migrant labourers are classified as temporary or ‘floating’ and receive negligible social or economic support from municipal governments even though they provide the labour necessary for rapid urban economic growth. Most poignantly, they have no access to the new houses that they help to build.
