Letters | How Hong Kong’s electoral overhaul will solve the housing crisis
- The pro-Beijing camp, stacked with vested interests, was never serious about solving the housing problem
- The pro-democracy camp was all criticism and no solutions
The apparently pro-Beijing camp – where many are among the vested interests, such as property tycoons and developers – never intended for property prices to fall and become affordable.
The pro-democracy camp also contributed to our housing crisis. They were always critical: blocking and objecting to government initiatives while citing reasons such as environmental protection; blaming the mainland and mainlanders (specifically, the one-way permit scheme that lets in 150 mainland citizens per day); or complaining that they weren’t consulted.
Enough is enough. Beijing was once patient, allowing Hong Kong autonomy to solve our own problems; it did not want to invite criticism that the central government was overreaching its authority. But, just as it enacted Article 23 for Hong Kong when we failed to deliver in the 23 years since the handover, the central government should directly resolve Hong Kong’s housing crisis.
