(Yicai Global) Dec. 27 -- Beijing has instituted a facial recognition system for public housing after trial operations, state-backed China News Service reported today, adding the system will cover 120,000 residents after its full activation. 

While ensuring the safety of residents in public housing, it will also prevent some from profiting from illegal subletting.

The system can trace anyone who enters and leaves a residential complex by integrating with its access control system and denying entry to strangers, Shan Zhenyu, director of the information center under Beijing's public housing agency, explained, adding that communities will also be equipped with registration systems to ensure the traceability of visitor information. 

The face scan system also pays special attention to aged residents, so if a senior living alone has not been in or out for a set period, the information center will report this to property management, which will pay targeted visits to ensure the safety of the elderly living alone.

Funded by the city government, the Beijing Public Housing Center, the main operator of Beijing's public rental housing, currently manages 76 projects whose rentals exceed 100,000 units. Fifty-seven projects were operating by the end of last month, helping improve the living conditions of 120,000 residents in over 50,000 families that have already registered. 

Beijing is intensifying its crackdown on illegal subleasing of public housing. Families subletting public house illegally will have their information recorded in the national credit system and will be ineligible for low-income housing for five years, per new rules from local regulators that issued at the end of October.

Editor: Ben Armour