Opinion | In quest for housing justice in Hong Kong, there should be no room for well-off public flat tenants

The saga of Hong Kong’s housing woes has been the toughest nut that past administrations, to their credit, have tried to crack. The city’s first chief executive tried to roll out an ill-fated 85,000 flat per year policy – ill-fated because it coincided with the 1997 Asian financial crisis that sent property prices plummeting. The policy was blamed for causing negative equity for homeowners.

Former chief executive Leung Chun-ying proposed building public housing on the periphery of Hong Kong’s country parks. And he kept pressing – harder, even – after his tenure.

Leung also suggested land reclamation in the waters off Lantau in his 2014 policy address. His successor, Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, took the idea and supersized it. It became her signature housing policy, the Lantau Tomorrow Vision. The current administration toned it down, calling it simply the Kau Yi Chau artificial islands project.

Our leaders have been under pressure to resolve the city’s housing struggles, especially after the 2019 social unrest – the housing issue was identified as the culprit, in addition to interference by foreign forces.

The lack of affordable housing is seen as the cause of widespread discontent, especially among young people. Central government leaders have been increasingly vocal about the need for resolve from the Hong Kong administration to tackle the problem.