Sociologists say policymakers should look into the housing needs of low-income groups and find solutions instead of churning out regulations designed to put an end to "group renting".

Group renting - the practice of dividing apartments into smaller rooms and renting them separately - has been in the spotlight since a 9-year-old boy fell to his death from the window of a 14th-floor apartment in Shanghai on Sunday.

The boy fell from an apartment building on Wanyuan Road in Minhang district at around 6 am after his parents, both migrant workers, had left for work, leaving the boy and his 12-year-old sister home alone.