本文从西方国家住房政策的演变脉络 ,简述了政府“赋予能力”思想出现的社会经济背景。基于我国旧城改造中的问题、旧城区的特点与社会发展目标 ,作者认为在市场经济条件下 ,通过国家提供与市场提供两种方式都不能理想地实现旧城改造的目的 ,而实施政府“赋予能力”政策应是旧城改造的一条新思路 This paper briefly describes the socio-economic background of the government’s “empowerment” from the evolution of housing policy in western countries. Based on the problems in the transformation of old cities in our country and the characteristics of the old urban areas and the goals of social development, the author believes that under the condition of market economy, the reform of the old city can not be achieved satisfactorily by both state provision and market provision, Empowerment "policy should be a new idea of ​​the transformation of the old city