Relocating the Poor

by Li Zhuoxi

Moving poor people living in areas lacking adequate living conditions to resettlement areas with improved housing and facilities as well as economic structure boosts the income of the relocated people and helps them gradually shake off poverty. As a key measure and landmark project of poverty alleviation， relocation is a fundamental tool to solve the worst problems for poor people in areas where the “soil and water cannot support the lives of the people.”

During the 13th Five-Year Plan period（2016-2020）， the target groups for poverty alleviation through relocation are those living in harsh environments that lack basic development conditions， such as remote mountains， desert regions， disease-ridden places， and registered rural poor people living in fragile ecological environments and limited or prohibited development zones. Priority has been given to those who live in active seismic zones and the poor population in rural areas threatened by geological disasters such as debris flows and landslides.

To this point， more than 96 percent of resettlement housing planned for the 13th Five-Year Plan has been completed， and more than eight million registered poor people have been relocated. Decisive progress has been made in relocation and construction， and relocating the poor has entered a new stage focusing on followup support. So far， subsequent support measures have been implemented for about 90 percent of the relocated people. According to the national poverty alleviation and development information system， more than seven million registered poor people have been lifted out of poverty through relocation.