Spring sunshine bathes the newly renovated Nongji Residential Complex, where several elderly residents chat in a brand-new pavilion. "Before, when facilities broke down, no one was responsible. Now, with just one phone call, property management arrives within minutes. Our worries are addressed, and our satisfaction keeps growing!" This transformation is becoming a common scene across many aging residential complexes in Gannan County.
Public property management provides a safety net, shifting the situation from "no one manages" to "issues get handled." Gannan County has a large number of older residential complexes, and many without property management have long suffered from aging infrastructure, poor environmental sanitation, and lack of maintenance response. "Uncollected garbage and blocked pipes with no one to fix them" were once the norm for many residents. Addressing these urgent public concerns, since 2022, Gannan County has positioned the creation of "red property management" as an effective way to enhance urban governance,全面推进公办物业兜底服务弃管老旧散小区工作. The county government allocated 12 million yuan in special funds, created 75 public welfare positions, and established the Gannan County Xinkang Property Management Co., Ltd., innovating with a "try before you buy" service model. Adhering to the principles of offering "more services rather than fewer" and keeping fees "as low as possible," Xinkang Property Management provides tailored basic services—including cleaning, minor repairs, and septic tank cleaning—for the complexes it takes over, with a firm commitment to 24/7 service, 365 days a year.
At the nearly 30-year-old County Grain Truck Fleet residential building, clogged and smelly sewers were once a common occurrence. After Xinkang Property Management took over, it immediately identified the issues and initiated renovations,彻底解决了困扰居民多年的难题. "Having public property management now is so convenient! You call, and someone comes right away," said resident Mr. Jiang happily.
To achieve zero-distance service, Xinkang Property Management developed a comprehensive digital command platform for red property management. Utilizing real-time location tracking, the platform enables unified dispatching of personnel and equipment and full-process control of services and evaluations. The platform has coordinated over 5,200 personnel dispatches and 1,450 equipment deployments, collected 110 optimization suggestions, and refined four service processes based on this feedback.
To date, Xinkang Property Management has taken over management of 91 previously unmanaged residential complexes in batches, covering 129 buildings with 515 units. It has completed over 1,200 pipe unclogging operations, more than 2,700 septic tank cleanings, and over 20,000 public facility repairs and replacements. Property management services now fully cover all previously unmanaged, aging, and scattered complexes in the county, leading to a significant rise in resident satisfaction.
An points-based system encourages co-governance, transforming residents from "bystanders" to "active participants." In the past, property management and community committees often performed a "soliloquy" in complex governance, with low resident participation. "I used to think complex affairs were the property management's business, nothing to do with me," said Aunt Liu from Guangming Community, echoing the sentiments of many residents. Now, copies of the "Resident Conventions" and "points exchange lists" are quietly changing this dynamic. Aunt Liu earned points by participating in corridor clean-ups and waste sorting, which she exchanged for laundry detergent, and the points can also be linked to property fees. "It gives me more motivation!" she said, having shifted from a "bystander" to a "participant" in complex governance.
In 2025, Gannan County explored establishing a flexible governance model involving a "Major Urban Management Committee + Red Property Management Alliance + Conventions and Norms," summarizing a four-step methodology of "scientifically setting conventions, broadly publicizing them, strictly implementing them, and fairly evaluating them." Community Party committees led the refinement of resident conventions tailored to individual complexes, resulting in 170 complex-level conventions that are practical and meet specific needs.
"Points might seem minor, but they act like a lever, boosting residents' enthusiasm for participating in community governance," Zhang Jie, Party Secretary of Guangming Community, noted with deep understanding. "Before, when we visited households to encourage participation, we wore out our lips with little effect. Now, everyone is more conscientious, neighbors keep an eye on each other, and the community atmosphere is much more harmonious."
Empowering homeowner committees has shifted their role from "hesitant to manage" to "skilled at managing." Homeowner committees are a crucial bridge between property management and residents. However, many committee members faced challenges understanding policies and procedures. Last year, the Gannan County Property Support Service Center organized multiple rounds of empowerment training for homeowner committees. This not only promoted standardized property management and safeguarded resident rights but also injected vitality into grassroots community governance.
"We need to teach people not just 'how to do it' but also guide them on 'who they are doing it for'," said Fan Jiankun, Director of the County Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau's Property Support Service Center. Addressing the challenge of sustaining volunteer committee members' enthusiasm, in March 2025, Gannan County began exploring a "remuneration system" for homeowner committees, allowing motivated and effective members to receive reasonable compensation. This measure effectively stimulated proactive work, contributing to a noticeable increase in the county-wide property fee collection rate that year.
"We will earnestly carry out education on establishing and practicing a correct view of political achievements, deepening the development of 'red property management' from 'visible coverage' to 'effective governance'. The practical results of the tripartite collaboration among community Party organizations, property enterprises, and homeowner committees will serve as an important benchmark for evaluating the effectiveness of grassroots Party building," said Li Dawei, Member of the Gannan County Party Committee Standing Committee and Head of the Organization Department.
The journey from "no one manages" to "issues get handled," from "bystanders" to "active participants," and from "hesitant to manage" to "skilled at managing"—Gannan County is using the "red property management" approach to successfully answer the "test paper" of serving the people.