The dirty and chaotic "last mile of the community" has finally been taken care of by someone, and the four communities have unified property management | Donglan Xingcheng | communities

Recently, Yu Qi, the director of the Construction and Management Center of Gumei Road Street in Minhang District, Shanghai, asked Shanghai Yida Property Management Co., Ltd. in its jurisdiction to conduct an annual accounting of the management cost of a road: how much manpower and material resources have been invested in the past year to manage this road well? Can the revenue generated from the addition of 73 temporary parking spaces on the road cover its management costs?

This neighborhood road, located in the Donglan Xingcheng area of Lane 1508 on Caobao Road, is divided into four residential communities, Yulan Yuan, Huilan Yuan, Donglan New Village, and Mulan Yuan, which were built in the early 2000s, in a Y-shaped direction. Due to the property rights belonging to four residential areas, this neighborhood road has been left unattended for a long time. The mixed use of people and vehicles, as well as chaotic traffic, have caused unbearable suffering for over 6000 residents in the surrounding community, often making phone calls to complain to all parties.

How to break through the "four no matter areas"? With the support of the Minhang District Housing Management Bureau in Shanghai, Gumei Road Street made an attempt: four communities held a general meeting of homeowners and voted to have the same property management company manage the communities. Previously, unmanaged neighborhood roads have become the responsibility of property management. It is understood that there are unmanned neighborhood roads between many residential areas in Shanghai, which have become synonymous with "dirty, messy, and poor". Donglan Xingcheng's attempt shows that regional property management can change the appearance of the "last mile of the community" with less cost.

A neighborhood road, with 4 communities "just use it and don't care"

There is a Y-shaped road in Donglanxing City, Gumei Road Street, Minhang District, which is sandwiched between four residential communities: Yulanyuan, Huilanyuan, Donglanxin Village, and Mulanyuan. The three vertices of the character "Y" are the three community entrances and exits located on Caobao Road, Longming Road, and Donglan Road.

According to Xu Hui, the Secretary of the Party General Branch of Donglanyi Residential Area, where four residential areas are located, this residential area was completed in early 2000. Since then, this road has taken on the function of connecting the four residential areas with the outside world, and the three entrances and exits have been "two-way traffic" for a long time; After 2015, with the rapid increase in the number of residents and private cars in this community, the "Y" shaped road for two-way traffic was blocked every rush hour. Late at night, there have been multiple vehicle collisions and traffic accidents due to the lack of street lighting and dedicated management on the road surface.

However, the neighborhood roads do not belong to the scope of municipal road management, and road cleaning management, greening maintenance, and facility maintenance have been in a state of long-term lack. Faced with the chaos caused by unmanned management of the Donglan Xingcheng neighborhood roads, the street and neighborhood committee have thought of many methods, such as environmental cleaning and parking management, for this section of road. However, due to the lack of unified and long-term management methods, the governance effect is unsatisfactory. Compared to the management of the neighborhood roads, the overall situation in the four communities is stable, as it is the responsibility of each property management company.

If all the property management companies take a step forward, wouldn't someone be in charge of this road? But the reality is that due to the small size of the four residential areas and generally low property fees, no property management company has the initiative to manage them.

So, what if all four communities are managed by one property management company? Under the guidance of the Minhang District Housing Management Bureau, Gumei Road Sub district formulated a comprehensive work plan and spent three years implementing the "Regional Property Management" project in Donglan Xingcheng based on the property service contracts of each community. Through the efforts of the sub district, residential area, and property committee, the four communities in Donglan Xingcheng have transformed the previous "separate management by different property companies" into "unified management by the same property enterprise" through holding owner meetings and public bidding for property service enterprises.

The reporter learned from the Shanghai Property Management Affairs Center that many "pocket sized" residential areas in Shanghai have the characteristics of early construction and outdated environmental facilities. In addition, different property service companies provide services, making it impossible to implement intensive management. Property fees remain at the standards of more than a decade ago, but service costs continue to rise, resulting in income exceeding expenses and barely reaching the original service level, not to mention meeting residents' expectations for improving living quality. In the view of industry insiders, regionalized property management will be an effective way to enhance the efficiency of community governance.

With the management team in place, all parties work together to promote governance

On the afternoon of July 3rd, the reporter entered Donglanxing City from Longming Road. Following the neighborhood road, you can see a neat temporary parking area on the right side of the road. At 3 pm, there are still many vacant spaces in this area; There is enough space left on the left side of the road for vehicles and pedestrians to pass through. Ms. You, a newly parked owner of Mulanyuan community, expressed satisfaction with the current situation of road management in the neighborhood. "After taking over the management, the property management not only improved the cleanliness and orderliness of the road surface, but also added more than 70 parking spaces for surrounding residents.".

"All changes occurred after the completion of property regionalization management." According to Sun Wei, the head of the property management department at the Minhang District Housing Management Affairs Center, after the four communities were managed by the same property company, the neighborhood roads had the conditions for entrusted management. Gumei Road Street has launched a supporting project for the "Regional Property Management" project in Donglan Xingcheng through the investment of residential community governance funds.

In order to ensure the orderly passage of the neighborhood roads, the roads have been equipped with surveillance cameras and other technical defense facilities. Photo by Xie Feijun

"The Neighborhood Construction Management Center led the relevant functional departments such as the Ping An Office, the Management Office, and the Grid Center to work together for the orderly operation of the neighborhood roads through the joint meeting of the integrated management of residential communities, including the adjustment of motor vehicle traffic mode, road reconstruction, community doorway reconstruction, guard box setting, and the installation of road gates, street lights, technical defense facilities, etc." Yu Qi said that the neighborhood roads in Donglan Xingcheng used to have three entrances and exits, Caobao Road, Longming Road, and Donglan Road. After the installation of road gates and guard boxes, the streets were adjusted to "double entry and double exit", that is, Caobao Road and Longming Road are two entrances, and Caobao Road and Donglan Road are Two exits. "After this adjustment, motor vehicles in the community can enter and exit in an orderly manner, avoiding traffic congestion."

Xu Hui admitted that the neighborhood road route has changed from "three in and three out" to "two in and two out". At first, the neighborhood committee was also worried about residents complaining, as some residents were unable to enter and exit at the nearest entrance and exit at will. However, due to the significant improvement in the overall appearance of the community - the street has widened some of its neighborhood roads from an average of 6.8 meters to 7.5 meters, and has set up pedestrian walkways, installed lighting street lights and technical defense facilities. "Most residents are very supportive of the changes, and some residents who were initially dissatisfied with driving around have changed their attitudes because they no longer experience traffic congestion.".

The management costs of property companies have greatly increased from unmanned to manned management. "Among the three entrances and exits, there are three more just at the gate, so all departments in the street need to find ways to increase the income of the property management company." Yu Qi introduced that the 73 temporary parking spaces designated by the Gumei Road Street Construction and Management Center on the street roads not only alleviate the parking difficulties in the community, but also increase the income of the property management.

It is worth mentioning that although the four communities are managed by a single property management company, each community still has its own gatekeeper in specific management. "If a vehicle enters a neighborhood road barrier, and then enters a designated community, a parking fee will be charged according to the community's parking regulations. If the vehicle does not enter the community and stops on the neighborhood road, an additional fee will be charged according to the temporary parking fee standard to subsidize the management costs of the neighborhood road." said Yu Rongguo, the manager of Yida Property.

The four communities still have their own barriers. Vehicles entering a specific community will be charged according to the parking regulations of each community. Vehicles parked on the neighborhood roads will be charged extra fees to subsidize the management costs of the neighborhood roads. Photo by Xie Feijun

Taking the Governance of Neighborhood Roads as an Opportunity to Promote "Regional Property Management"

"The implementation of community integrated property management in Gumei Road Street, Minhang District is an attempt by the government, enterprises, and residents. The originally dirty and disorderly neighborhood roads have become the key to promoting the implementation of 'property regionalization management' in multiple communities. Their attempts have also provided ideas for property services and community governance in other communities in the city." Yu Wenjue, the head of the Property Department of the Shanghai Property Management Affairs Center, told reporters that most neighborhood roads are formed due to different construction subjects or processes during the development process of the plot. Even though vehicle order management, greening, and road facility maintenance can be entrusted to property enterprises for management, the property contracts signed between property enterprises and owners are within the red line range of the community. Providing services internally, unable to "leave the community", resulting in unowned neighborhood roads becoming the "last mile of the community" with "dirty, messy, and poor" conditions.

"As internal roads of the community, they do not belong to the scope of municipal road management. However, because the roads are not within the community, the property management of the community cannot manage them, and there are often problems such as mixed traffic of people and vehicles, chaotic traffic, and prominent traffic hazards." Yu Qi introduced that the "Regional Property Management" project in Donglan Xingcheng has been launched for nearly a year, and the property management of various communities and neighborhood roads is running smoothly and orderly. Residents have felt the positive effect of "Regional Property Management" on community security, environmental governance, and smooth street access. "Currently, there are almost no complaints about neighborhood roads in this community."

After the same property company took over the four residential areas, the cleaning, greening and order management of the neighborhood roads have all become the internal affairs of the property company. The picture shows the property staff pruning Xie Feijun

"There are many neighborly roads in Shanghai that are left unattended, and this experience can be further promoted." Sun Wei believes that such an operation can break through the bottleneck of property management development and make up for the management shortcomings of neighborly roads, but the economic account cannot be ignored. "After calculation, due to the addition of various management and maintenance personnel for neighborhood roads, the operating costs of property enterprises have increased. Even after deducting parking management income, the current operating status of property enterprises still has certain losses. In the future, the community should guide community owners to form a 'high-quality and cost-effective' property service concept. On the basis of recognizing property services, by promoting reasonable increase in property fees, standardizing parking management, and making full use of limited resources to reduce costs, the community can achieve self growth of the 'regional property management' project."