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Opinion | As Hong Kong’s economy contracts, all the more reason to tackle the housing crisis
- The government should consider real estate sector lawmaker Abraham Shek’s proposals on using brownfield sites and redeveloping old residential buildings. But first, the public and private housing markets must be delinked
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Hong Kong’s economy has been severely affected by the anti-extradition protests, the US-China trade war and the Covid-19 pandemic. The city recorded its biggest-ever quarterly economic contraction since 1974, with a year-on-year gross domestic product drop of 8.9 per cent.
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The government has so far put forward a two-part relief package worth almost HK$30 billion. However, due to the political conflicts within the Legislative Council, some measures are yet to be implemented. If the government is dedicated to steering the city through the economic downturn, it must avoid any form of political suppression and put an end to police violence.
To pull the economy back from its current precipice, pro-establishment lawmaker Abraham Shek Lai-him, who represents the real estate and construction industry, has suggested 10 policies to help rebuild Hong Kong.
Among them is a proposal to turn all 720 hectares of brownfield sites, which were not included in any development plans, into New Development Areas. This would create land for 84,000 much-needed rural public housing units.
Shek also suggests hammering out a scheme to redevelop the 10,000-odd residential buildings that are over 50 years old, to make room for better town planning and efficient land use, and lifting the duties on residential property transactions, which have outlived their purpose, to revive the private property market.
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