BEIJING -- Local governments across China started building or renovating 8.68 million government-subsidized housing units in the January-August period, roughly 1.3 million units short of what the central government ordered for the year.

About 14 percent of the central government's designated number of subsidized housing construction tasks will have to be built, according to a statement by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (MOHURD).

Only Hebei, Liaoning, Fujian, Shandong and Shaanxi provinces have started building more subsidized housing units than the number ordered by the State Council, or China's Cabinet, for the year.

Guangdong province, an economic powerhouse in southern China, has started only 66 percent of its construction assignment in 2011, according to the ministry.

MOHURD minister Jiang Weixin said last month that construction on all subsidized housing units should be started before the end of October.

The State Council plans to build 10 million subsidized housing units, including affordable homes, low rent homes, price-capped homes and public rental homes, this year and 36 million more over the next five years in response to public complaints about soaring property prices, which make home ownership inaccessible for many Chinese.