The Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau is considering a proposal from a Shanghai People's Congress representative that suggests some local senior citizens sell, rent or mortgage their homes to support themselves during retirement, local media reported Thursday. 

The proposal highlights the financial burdens that many local seniors have to shoulder as the city ages. "There is a big gap between supply and demand for senior care due to the rapidly growing elderly population," said Sun Honglin, the Shanghai People's Congress representative who submitted the proposal.

Shanghai is burdened with providing for 3.47 million permanent residents above the age of 60, who account for about 24.5 percent of the city's population, a figure that is expected to climb to roughly 30 percent by 2015, according to a report that the Shanghai Research Center on Aging issued in 2011.

"The public welfare system will not likely be able to afford to solve all of the aging population's problems," Sun wrote in his proposal.

He suggested that the city's seniors leverage the one asset that most of them have - their home.

If seniors need to enter a retirement home or nursing care facility, they can sell, rent or mortgage their homes to be able to cover the payments, Sun suggested in the proposal. If they are having trouble making ends meet, they might also sell their apartments and buy or rent smaller homes, using the excess money to support themselves. 

"Seniors living on a limited pension will have serious financial problems if they need medical care," Sun told the Global Times. "As a real estate lawyer, I have seen many disputes over houses and support of the elderly break out among seniors and their children."