Young people setting out on their working lives will be helped to live away from home by a hostel scheme proposed in the policy address, home affairs officials said yesterday.
In last month's speech, Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen said the government would help NGOs build hostels on land allocated by the administration.
The government has not said how large the hostel units, aimed at housing people between 18 and 30 years old and earning between HK$10,000 and HK$14,000, would be.
Deputy Director of Home Affairs Jack Chan Jick-chi said yesterday that six NGOs had shown an interest in the hostel programme.
The hostels were intended to help young people while they adjusted to being part of the workforce, but not address their long-term housing needs, he said.
'We propose that the income cap for people living in these hostels be about HK$10,000 to HK$14,000 a month [the income range of many university graduates]. If their income is too low, the NGOs think these youngsters should live with their families rather than on their own.'
