Concern group urges Hong Kong housing authorities to take over supplying transitional homes
- Society for Community Organisation announces transitional housing project under a five-year lease in the industrial district of Kwai Chung
- Government has more resources and liberty concerning tenancy, society says
Hong Kong housing officials should take over the responsibility of building temporary homes for people waiting for public flats so as to provide a more stable supply, a concern group has urged.
The Society for Community Organisation made the appeal on Sunday as it revealed details of a transitional housing project under a five-year lease with the government in the industrial district of Kwai Chung, in the southwest New Territories.
The group aims to provide about 700 low-income residents with 220 temporary housing units, comprising 216 two-person rooms and four family flats, in the second quarter of 2023.
“If transitional housing becomes part of the government’s long-term strategy, authorities can take responsibility to build them. They have more resources,” said Sze Lai-shan, the NGO’s deputy director.
“They also have more liberty concerning the tenancy. Now, we have to renegotiate the lease term every five years. It will be a better use of resources if those houses can be used for longer, like more than 10 years.”
Hong Kong remained the world’s most expensive city to live in for the third year running, according to an annual report published in June by global mobility company ECA International.
According to a government research report published last year, the city’s roughly 100,000 subdivided flats, which are often substandard, were home to about 230,000 residents, or 3 per cent of Hong Kong’s population.
