Media: "Housing provident fund can be saved urgently" should be included in the top-level design, and employees in Beijing who have been greatly affected by the disaster can fully withdraw their housing provident fund for deposit. | Disaster situation | Employees
According to reports, in order to help enterprises and depositors affected by the disaster overcome difficulties together, the Beijing Housing Provident Fund Management Center will implement phased support measures for enterprises and depositors affected by the disaster. Employees who have been greatly affected by the disaster and urgently need a large amount of funding can fully withdraw their housing provident fund balance from their account to cope with temporary living difficulties.
The recent extreme rainstorm weather has caused serious disasters in Fangshan, Mentougou and other places in Beijing. In order to provide adequate living support for the disaster stricken population, win the battle of flood prevention, disaster relief, and recovery and reconstruction, and help enterprises and depositors affected by the disaster overcome difficulties together, the Beijing Housing Provident Fund Management Center has issued a notice on providing phased support measures for assisting disaster stricken enterprises and depositors. Among them, employees who are greatly affected by the disaster can fully withdraw their housing provident fund, becoming the biggest highlight. Rainstorm is merciless, and there is love in the world. The good governance of extracting housing provident fund can help solve the urgent needs of disaster affected workers and their families, and restore normal work and life order as soon as possible.
It should be said that there have been relevant regulations regarding the use of provident fund for emergency relief before. Article 4 of the current "Beijing Housing Provident Fund Withdrawal Management Measures" clearly stipulates 12 situations in which employees can withdraw the remaining balance in their housing provident fund accounts, including "living difficulties, receiving the minimum urban living security fund" and "encountering emergencies that cause serious difficulties in family life". This time, although the policy of "employees who are greatly affected by the disaster can fully withdraw their housing provident fund" is a phased measure, the concept of "housing provident fund can save the situation" reflected is consistent.
In the past, the scope of provident fund extraction was too narrow and the utilization rate was low, resulting in a large amount of idle funds. According to the 2022 Annual Report of National Housing Provident Fund, as of the end of 2022, the cumulative deposit balance of housing provident fund was 9245.482 billion yuan, an increase of 12.91% compared to the end of the previous year. Undoubtedly, housing provident fund plays a role in providing policy oriented housing financial services, but if there is too much capital accumulation, it is undoubtedly a waste of resources. In recent years, some places have explored and included situations such as "significant property losses caused by unexpected events in employee families leading to difficulties in life" and "serious difficulties in family life caused by major diseases in employees, spouses, and their immediate relatives" in the scope of extraction. This not only improves the efficiency of using provident fund, but also solves practical difficulties for employees.
However, from the perspective of top-level design, although the current Regulations on the Management of Housing Provident Fund have undergone two revisions in 2002 and 2019, the extraction conditions stipulated are still strictly limited to six situations - "those who purchase, construct, rebuild, or overhaul self occupied housing; those who retire or retire; those who completely lose their ability to work and terminate their employment relationship with the unit; those who settle abroad; those who repay the principal and interest of the housing loan; and those whose rent exceeds the prescribed proportion of family wage income." This leads to local expansion and exploration, which is suspected of violating the upper level law. After relaxing the policy of withdrawing housing provident fund for a period of time, Hainan and other places have successively cancelled the provisions for withdrawing housing provident fund for major diseases.
The original intention of the housing provident fund is undoubtedly to establish a policy oriented housing finance system and improve the housing security ability of employees. However, blindly adhering to housing security objectively leads to the embarrassment of the housing provident fund: high-income groups find it easy to buy houses and can enjoy the benefits of the housing provident fund, while low-income groups find it difficult to buy houses and enjoy the benefits of the housing provident fund. "Provident fund can save the situation" is not only a practical measure to activate the existing funds of the provident fund, but also a practical consideration for the public to enjoy the welfare of the provident fund, because in the face of sudden difficulties and major diseases, ensuring people's survival and life is undoubtedly the top priority.
We look forward to the relevant parties amending the relevant provisions of the Regulations on the Management of Housing Provident Fund as soon as possible, incorporating the concept of "housing provident fund can be saved" into the top-level design, institutionalizing and legalizing it, so as to better guide local practices and maximize the effectiveness of housing provident fund.
