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Hong Kong housing
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Hong Kong Covid-19 isolation centre at prime Kai Tak development area ‘to be used for temporary public housing’

  • Developers, tourism players worry about impact on plans for residential, leisure hub in the area
  • Kai Tak facility, still being built to provide 3,000 isolation rooms, appears the most feasible for use as temporary housing, source says

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Community isolation facilities beside the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal. Photo: Nora Tam
Edith LinandJoyce Ng
A Covid-19 isolation centre in Hong Kong’s prime Kai Tak development area could be turned into transitional housing for low-income residents when the pandemic eases, the Post has learned.
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Concern groups for housing welcomed the idea, saying it could provide quick relief given the city’s severe shortage of public housing.

But developers and tourism sector players said they believed the temporary housing should not remain too long, or it could affect tourism and plans to transform the former airport site into a hub for homes, business, sports and leisure.

The isolation facilities at Kai Tak are set up in four-storey blocks. Photo: Nora Tam
The isolation facilities at Kai Tak are set up in four-storey blocks. Photo: Nora Tam

With Covid-19 infections continuing a downward trend, isolation facilities have been left with many empty beds.

Secretary for Development Michael Wong Wai-lun said in a blog post on April 24 that some isolation sites could be used as transitional housing for those in the long queue for public flats, but he did not give details.

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