Hong Kong lawmakers demand government shorten 20-year projection to meet public housing target

Housing minister Frank Chan admits that meeting pledge to supply public flat within 3 years of application might take between 10 and 20 years

Legislators question why government cannot give more precise and shorter timeline, saying building density on sites in northern New Territories should be increased

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Hong Kong’s housing minister says it could take up to 20 years to substantially reduce the waiting time for public housing. Photo: Martin Chan

Published: 2:11pm, 20 Oct 2021Updated: 11:48pm, 20 Oct 2021

The housing minister has conceded that substantially reducing the time residents must wait for a public flat could take up to 20 years, a stunning admission that angered lawmakers who demanded the government do better to meet one of the most pressing challenges facing Hong Kong.

The legislators grilled Secretary for Transport and Housing Frank Chan Fan in the Legislative Council on Wednesday over the progress being made in cutting down the wait for public flats from nearly six years, which is twice as long as the Housing Authority’s pledge of delivering a home within three years.

Secretary for Transport and Housing Frank Chan attends the Legislative Council meeting on Wednesday. Photo: Dickson Lee

Chan, who also chairs the authority, stressed the government still regarded that goal as a priority and pointed to about 350 hectares (865 acres) of recently identified land as more than enough to meet the official projected demand for public housing over the next decade.

“The estimated public housing demand is 301,000 units for the period,” he told the meeting of the housing panel. “Assuming that there will be no new applications to the waiting list, we can achieve the objective to meet the full demand in 10 years.

“But there will be new families queuing in the coming years, [and] I believe it will take about 10 to 20 years to achieve the [pledge].”

Lawmakers pressed the minister on why the government could not give a clearer deadline for meeting its own promise of three years.