WHEN Zhou woke up on the morning of July 11 in her rental apartment in an urban village in Bantian, Longgang District, she was shocked to find a text message from the landlord. The message read: the rent will be increased by 50 percent if you want to stay, otherwise you must evacuate within a week.

Having struggled living in the city for four years, Zhou realized she would actually become homeless.

Since 2003, Zhou has been living in Zhongxinwei Village to save money on rent. The rent had been 850 yuan (US$125) for a two-bedroom apartment and it was raised to 1,400 yuan this June. The landlord then informed her that the rent would increase to 2,000 yuan.

“I chose to live here because the rent was cheap, despite the environment being far from satisfactory. However, most of the apartments were managed by sub-contractors, who would raise the rent several times a year,” said Zhou.

Many tenants live with their family, including children and elderly parents, in the rented apartments in the neighborhood only because the rents are cheap and they don’t have anywhere else to go if they don’t agree to the rise in rent.

Lin and her husband had been living in Shenzhen for seven years on a total income of 15,000 yuan a month. They could save about 2,000 yuan after expenses. The money they have saved over the past years is utterly inadequate for buying an apartment.

“In seven years, I have nothing left. I want to stay in Shenzhen for the future of my children, but the high cost of housing and children’s education has tortured me. I don’t have enough courage to stay in the city, but fear I will regret it if I leave,” Lin said.

(Han Ximin)