BEIJING - A new policy on public rental housing is allowing more low- and middle-income families to apply for homes. But people without Beijing hukou - permanent residence permits - must wait for more details to be released before they can take advantage of the change.

The policy, which took effect on Thursday, also pertains to larger local families with three or four members and allows residents without hukou to apply for those documents if they have worked in the city for an as yet undetermined number of years.

"In addition to the amount of years they have been working in Beijing, a limit on annual income will be set later," said an official from the Beijing Municipal Committee of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, who declined to be named. "Because some residents said it's only fair that they should have the same restrictions as local families."