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Study and re-study the problem of subdivided housing can not follow the brownfield

2020-09-29T23:38:40.167Z


On Monday (28th), the "Sub-House Rent Control Research Working Group" announced the launch of three thematic studies on society, economy and law. Chairman Liang Yongxiang expects to receive the results by February next year and submit the final report to the government by June.


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Written by: Commentary Editing Room

2020-09-30 07:30

Last update date: 2020-09-30 07:30

On Monday (28th), the "Subdivided Rental Control Research Working Group" announced the launch of three thematic studies on society, economy and law. Chairman Liang Yongxiang expects to receive the results by February next year and submit a final report to the government by June.

After looking at the content of the research carefully, the society cannot help but ask, is the definition of sub-divided housing different in society?

Has the government not grasped the plight of sub-areas?

Why does the government waste time and not directly implement rent control?

Liang Yongxiang pointed out that sub-divided households have to face problems such as the environment and over-collection of water and electricity. He described sub-divided households and their owners as having no equal negotiating status.

(Photo/Photo by Ou Jiale)

Either come to a conclusion or study later

Liang Yongxiang said that three academic units have been entrusted to conduct the above three studies. The survey agency "Policy 21" is responsible for sampling surveys of subdivided households in Hong Kong to understand the social scope. The legal definition of subdivided housing is set by the Department of Law of the University of Hong Kong , So that in the future supervision, law enforcement and legal reform, and scholar Zhuang Tailiang from the Department of Economics of CUHK will study the pros and cons of rent management.

It is understandable that the working group with half of its members being scholars attaches great importance to research and investigation.

However, from the moment the government announced the establishment of a working group, we have criticized the government for repeatedly delaying and delaying the goal of ending sub-divided housing.

In the past few years, the media has reported on the various plights of sub-household households. The group still entrusts an agency to investigate and even study the definition, which is puzzling.

Government departments have always prepared the definition of subdivided housing.

For example, the Buildings Department interprets subdivided housing as a "divided building unit", which refers to a building unit shown on the original approved plan of the building divided into two or more independent rooms.

In 2015 and 2016, the Census and Statistics Department conducted reports on the status of sub-divided households, with similar definitions and detailed explanations.

The Social Welfare Department also has assistance programs for subdivided housing tenants, that is, government personnel are capable of identifying subdivided housing.

Liang Yongxiang pointed out that the team has so far visited the sub-houses in the nine districts and communicated with more than 30 concern groups.

(Photo/Photo by Gao Zhongming)

In fact, to implement legal reforms, government departments only need to negotiate the unanimous definition of subdivided housing, and then officials from the Buildings Department, Development Bureau, Department of Justice and other officials can draft legal amendments. During the period, they can consult stakeholders and then submit the legislation to the Legislative Council for deliberation or by Government departments can execute directly.

On the economic front, the private sector asked the government to strengthen the protection of tenants a few years ago. As long as the regulations are appropriate, they will not do bad things well.

We have also written an article to point out that the control does not need to be fully implemented. For example, it can only be applied to units with low rents, and a vacancy tax can be set to reduce owners' recovery of vacant units.

It is not only too late for the working group to start the study now, but the study is still left to discuss the pros and cons of rent control. It is too conservative. In fact, it should directly discuss the regulations.

Liang Yongxiang pointed out that sub-divided households have to face problems such as the environment and over-collection of water and electricity. He described sub-divided households and their owners as having no equal negotiating status.

(Photo/Photo by Gao Zhongming)

Procrastination of previous sub-divisions improvement indefinitely

Worry about the protracted discussions on rent management also stems from the government's experience in handling other housing and land issues.

Regarding the use of brownfields, the private sector proposed to make good use of the damaged land in 2010, and defined it as brownfields in 2012, and then collected different types of brownfields and proposed uses.

However, the Planning Department commissioned a consultant to conduct a brownfield study in April 2017, and published the results at the end of 2019. It concluded that there are more than 1,500 hectares of brownfields in various districts. The development potential of brownfields is still being evaluated.

The time difference between the government and the people was as long as seven years, which greatly delayed the planning and housing construction process.

Needless to say, in the land debates in the past two or three years, the whole people have discussed the priority of land development, and thousands of hectares of land are still idle.

The problem of sub-divided housing is obvious. The living space is small and dirty, industrial buildings live in violation of regulations, the rent per square foot is more expensive than that of luxury houses, and the landlord overcharges utility bills, etc., which has long troubled sub-divided households.

The academics and professionals in the working group seem to be following the government's steps and staying at the stage of researching subordinated housing.

They need to remind officials that ending sub-divided housing is the most fundamental responsibility of the government.

Industrial building sub-districts lead to fire, resettlement and ban should be carried out gradually

The government must face up to the problem of subdivision housing in emerging industrial buildings

Subdivided housing owners can legislate to set up independent water and electricity meters for overcharging utilities

Why is there no grass-roots representative in the subdivided rent management research group?

Subdivided Housing Policy 01 Viewpoint

Source: hk1

All news articles on 2020-09-29

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