Coronavirus: most single-parent cross-border families in Hong Kong struggling to afford enough food for children, survey finds

Nearly 80 per cent of respondents can’t afford enough food for each of the three daily meals with many households relying on free goods and expired products

One in five reported household monthly income of less than HK$3,000, with many single parents having lost their job on the mainland due to border closures

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Lan Qiying (second right) tells a SoCO press conference about the hardships she and her daughter have faced. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Published: 8:49pm, 23 Jan 2023Updated: 2:49am, 24 Jan 2023

Nearly four in five cross-border single-parent families in Hong Kong have not been able to afford enough food for their children in the three years since the Covid-19 pandemic struck, with more than half resorting to expired goods, a survey has found.

Most of the 52 single-parent households questioned also told the Society for Community Organisation (SoCO), which carried out the survey, that they hoped to be allowed to renew their exit-entry permits in the city even after the border with mainland China fully reopened later, as many could not afford to travel north to do so.

The median monthly income of the families surveyed in the first week of January was HK$6,000, about one-fifth of the figure of Hong Kong households.

One in five respondents reported household monthly income of less than HK$3,000, with many single parents having lost their job on the mainland because of the largely closed border.

Single mother Lan Qiying, 50, has relied on a monthly government subsidy of HK$6,500 under the comprehensive social security assistance (CSSA) scheme to live with her 15-year-old daughter in Hong Kong since the pandemic hit.

“After paying rent and utility bills, we have about HK$2,000 left for my daughter’s transport to school and food,” she said.

“I couldn’t even afford to prepare red packets for this Lunar New Year so I avoided any eye contact with people when I went out to buy a bottle of soy sauce [on Sunday].”

She was one of the nearly 80 per cent of respondents who said their children could not afford enough food for each of the three daily meals. Around 87 per cent of households relied on free food and 60 per cent of them resorted to expired products.