How can old residential communities address their governance challenges?
如何破解老旧小区治理难题？

In urban China, a large number of old residential communities have neither owners’ committee nor realty management. These communities, therefore, are facing many governance challenges, particularly those relative to public hygiene, public security, and public facilities. In the report delivered by President Xi Jinping at the 19thNational Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2017, it proposed building a community governance system in and through which “government’s governance efforts on the one hand and society’s self-regulation and residents’ self-governance on the other reinforce each other”. Informed by this policy proposal, many cities are attempting to develop their community governance modes that fit their contexts. This case presents the mode as developed by Xixijiedao of Xihu District of Hangzhou City in Zhejiang Province. It is called “Jiayuanziguanxiaozu” meaning “community self-governance team”.
我国城市中存在着大量无业委会、无物业管理，环境脏、秩序乱、设施差的老旧小区。由于缺乏有效治理，这类小区的基层治理问题非常突出。党的十九大提出建设“政府治理和社会调节、居民自治良性互动”的社区治理体系，全国各地都在积极探索适合自己的模式和路径，其中杭州市西湖区西溪街道施行的“家园自管小组”为我们提供了一个可以借鉴的可行方案。

The team consists of five to seven members from three community groups, namely property owners, permanent residents, and local authority. The neighborhood committee has delegated the team to carry out tasks related to community self-governance. With regard to operating expenses, the team has received permission from local authority to charge residents self-governance fees. As an added incentive, local authority provides allowance to the team in proportion to the fees it collects from residents. Local authority has also secured the team’s legal status by registering it as a social organization. Not only was the registration process simplified, but also was the registration fee lowered from 30,000 RMB to 3,000 RMB. Further, local authority ran a public relations campaign under the theme of “Wodejiayuangongtongti” – meaning “our community, our common home”, encouraging residents to join the community self-governance team so that a sustainable self-governance mechanism can be developed in the long term.
家园自管小组一般由5-7人组成，成员为本小区业主、常住居民、辖区单位负责人，社区居委会通过居民代表大会形式，赋予自管小组开展自我服务管理的权力。为解决自管小组的资金问题，街道允许自管小组收取自管费用。为鼓励居民缴纳“自管费”，西溪街道给予扶持补助，自管小组的自管费收取得越多，得到的补助将会越高。为了保障自管小组的法律地位，街道简化登记手续，将注册门槛从三万元降低为三千元，并进行社会组织登记备案，助推合法进程。西溪街道还将“我的家园共同体”作为各社区开展宣传教育的重要内容，鼓励居民加入自管小组，营造社区治理“人人参与、人人尽责、人人共享”的良性循环自治机制。

The community self-governance team has become a means through which the residents develop and maintain a sense of ownership of their neighborhoods and local affairs. Leveraging local residents’ strengths enables and motivates them to participate in community governance, which in turn can improve their livelihoods. This positive reciprocity between self-governance and livelihoods can help to address the fundamental challenge in the process of transforming old residential communities, that is, how to develop effective community governance. As shown in this case, the key lies in developing a mode that fits local contexts, leverages local residents’ strengths, and maximizes their participation in the governance of their neighborhoods.
社区是居民共同的家园，社区的建设管理需要大家共同参与。而自管小组的成立成为维系这种主人翁意识的重要纽带，自管小组的成员对小区事务最为熟悉，通过发挥基层群众的力量，参与并推动家园建设和民生服务，弥补了老旧小区公共管理不到位、服务功能不强等缺陷，“居民自管”的良性循环逐步形成。老旧小区提质改造的难点并不是硬件质量提升和环境的整治，而是补足老旧小区长期以来缺乏有效社区治理这一短板。其中的关键又在于采取因地制宜的方式，最大程度地激发当地居民的参与积极性，充分发挥居民自治的优势。