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Written by: Commentary Editing Room
2020-11-05 07:00
Last update date: 2020-11-05 07:00
Chief Executive Carrie Lam said on Tuesday (3rd) that a new "Policy Address" is expected to be issued on November 25. However, the "Policy Address" is not just a "report". The public expects to see solutions to social problems in it. And performance.
But for the most serious housing and land problems in Hong Kong, Carrie Lam’s performance in the past three years is unsatisfactory, let alone fulfilling the promise she made on the election platform three years ago.
In 2017, Carrie Lam’s election platform for the Chief Executive election stated that her housing policy is “led by home ownership, so that people can live in peace and enjoy Hong Kong as their home”. She also said that “will find ways to discuss with the people, build consensus, and vigorously develop land. To build up land reserves for Hong Kong’s long-term development needs," but her tenure has passed more than half of her term. The public’s high rents and expensive housing issues have not improved, but Carrie Lam continues to talk about long-term vision and refuses to deal with most of Hong Kong. People are now threatened even their basic right of residence.
Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights guarantees that "everyone has the right to enjoy the appropriate level of living required by himself and his family, including proper food, clothing and shelter, and a continuously improved living environment." Article 39 of the Basic Law also It is stipulated that the Convention applies to Hong Kong, but none of the chief executives, including Carrie Lam, has been able to truly ensure that Hong Kong people enjoy an appropriate and even continuously improving living environment. Under her leadership, it is more like a constant deterioration, or at least constant change. expensive.
With high property prices in Hong Kong, housing problems have attracted much attention, and subdivided housing is very common in Hong Kong.
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Three years in power, prices and rents have risen
According to the information from the Rating and Valuation Department, the price index of various types of private residential units has increased from 337.5 to 382.6 since Lam Cheng took office, which is an increase of about 13.4%.
According to the Census and Statistics Department, during the same period, the "private housing rent" item in the Composite Consumer Price Index increased from 106.4 to 113.1, which is an increase of about 6.3%; in contrast, it decreased from the third quarter of 2017 to the second in 2020. The real total income of local residents in the quarter decreased by about 1%, and if calculated by volume, it dropped by about 7.3%.
On the other hand, information from the Housing Department shows that at the end of June 2017, there were approximately 150,200 general applications and approximately 127,600 non-elderly one-person applications. The average waiting time was 4.7 years and 2.6 years, respectively. By the end of June 2020, there were There were 155,800 general applications and about 103,900 non-elderly one-person applications. The average waiting time was 5.5 years and 3.0 years respectively.
Although the number of applicants for public housing appears to have decreased slightly through administrative adjustments, the waiting time for cases has become longer.
Property prices in Hong Kong continue to rise, and there are many people waiting for public housing.
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Talking about vision does not save near fire
In the face of rising property prices, rents, and continued demand for public housing, the most effective approach should naturally be to increase the supply of land and housing as soon as possible.
Unfortunately, after the "Land Debate" two years ago, Carrie Lam's most frequent option has always been "Lantau Tomorrow Vision". During the consultation last year, the authorities still stated that the goal was to make the first stage of the artificial island in Yizhou The reclamation project will start in 2025, and the first batch of housing units will be provided in 2032. It is still one round away from today, and it is completely unable to cope with the immediate cost of housing for the citizens.
As for other short- and medium-term options for obtaining land or building houses faster, the Hong Kong government seems to have no intention to follow up seriously in recent years.
Since Lam Cheng took office, he has quoted various regulations to expropriate land and still only obtains about 94.5 hectares, which is far from the 700 hectares she promised. Last year, a consultant report identified about 160 hectares of "brown land" with high development potential. As a result, more than half of about 91 hectares were covered. The Planning Department refused to develop public housing on the grounds that "in the face of development restrictions and these restrictions are difficult to overcome in the short term" and "the respective locations are very scattered".
Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has repeatedly pointed out that "Lantau Tomorrow" is the solution to today's housing needs, and reclamation is inevitable.
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Responsible for housing prices
CBRE Group has released the "Global Living Report" since 2015, among which Hong Kong has ranked the highest in global city property prices for six consecutive years, and in terms of rent, it has also climbed from the original seventh place to the third place this year. ——This upward trend happened to start in 2017 when Carrie Lam took office——, so even if we say that Hong Kong is the most difficult place in the world to live in.
Since high property prices and high rents have long been urgent and urgent problems to be solved, the officials in charge naturally cannot have the leeway to care about the long-term vision of the future.
The housing problem in Hong Kong has burned like a raging fire. The Chief Executive was supposed to be the fire chief who took the lead in extinguishing it, but her performance in recent years is like ignoring the current situation of the fire scene. She will only talk about how to ensure sufficient supplies of fire fighting supplies. Sora told the affected groups that there is no need to worry about being displaced tomorrow, but that there has been no actual act of releasing water to extinguish fires or breaking houses to save people.
Ignore the present reality and rush to talk about the ideal of "fake big sky." If they are not pretentious and self-righteous, they are perfunctory and careless for the people, how can such people deserve the trust and trust of society?
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