According to the mechanism or to the public housing against the market, the rent increase committee approves the absurdity and advocates freezing rent

Social News

Written by: Wang Jieen

2020-06-08 17:33

Affected by the epidemic, grassroots life was hit hard. However, according to the current public housing rent adjustment mechanism, about 800,000 public housing residents may face rent increases as soon as September.

The Housing Authority held an anniversary special public meeting today (7th). At the meeting, many members were concerned about the issue of public housing rent increase. Some members criticized that if the Housing Authority increased rents against the market, it was ridiculous, and it was proposed to freeze the rent increase once, and then review it according to the economic situation after two years; some members suggested that the Housing Authority can review the rental assistance plan and consider increasing More rent assistance.

+7

+6

+5

Yin Zhao insisted on freezing the rent for one year

Yin Zhaojian, a member of the Housing Authority and the Democratic Legislative Council, said that the current epidemic has not retreated and will face an unprecedented economic shock in the future. He said that he hopes that when the Housing Authority conducts a rent review this year, it can freeze public housing rent increases once, and then conduct a review based on economic conditions two years later.

Yin also pointed out that the amount of public housing construction is far less than the demand, so we should strive for more land to build housing, or restart the reconstruction of large public housing.

Housing Authority's first round of surveys involved 170,000 public housing units maintenance expenditure of about 1.16 billion

The HA admits that there is a 3 cm crack in the Kaibi Pavilion of the HOS Kaile Court, saying that it is due to soil erosion rather than settlement

Housing Authority decides that estate LPG contracts must be tendered to require suppliers to inspect stoves for residents free of charge

Housing Authority's retail and industrial building rent reductions are planned to increase to 75% Targets are expanded to parking lot commercial vehicle tenants

【New Coronary Pneumonia】Housing Authority Reduces Rent by 75% through Retail and Industrial Buildings

【Housing Authority】Public housing application for additional online form must be printed and mailed or submitted in person

Zhao Guowei: May consider increasing the amount of rent assistance

Another member, Director General of the Public Housing Association Zhao Guowei said that although the Government announced in this year’s Budget that it would pay one month’s rent for public housing tenants with lower incomes, it considered the measures to be only one-off It is recommended that the Housing Authority review the rental assistance scheme. In addition to the current half rent reduction and quarter rent reduction, it may consider increasing the amount of rent assistance, for example, if the family income is less than 25% of the income limit for applying for public housing , Three-quarters of relief can be considered, as well as free rent assistance.

He suggested that a free assistance period could be set for free rent, for example, no more than one year. If the tenants still need it afterwards, they must apply for CSSA to solve their financial difficulties.

Public housing tenants who have financial difficulties can delay rent payment

Guo Weiqiang, a member of the Housing Authority and a member of the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions, also pointed out that the current Hong Kong economy is difficult to recover in the short term. The unemployment rate exceeds 5% and has not peaked. He believes that as a safety net for public housing, the HA should step up its work to meet new challenges, such as delaying the rent payment of public housing tenants with financial difficulties for half a year and releasing rent assistance.

Members suggest building a house on the reservoir

Member Wen Hailiang said that there are more than 200 distribution reservoirs in Hong Kong. It is proposed to build houses on the distribution reservoirs adjacent to public housing estates. They believe that not only can the capacity of the estates be expanded, but they can also be combined with the housing redevelopment plan. The Director of the Housing Bureau Chen Fan responded by saying that he is open to the relevant suggestions, "can you all be taught, can the entire pilot project be done?"

According to the current mechanism, the rent of public housing is adjusted every two years. The Housing Authority entrusts the Census and Statistics Department to select 2,000 tenants every month and ask them to declare their income to calculate the income change as a reference for determining the rate of rent adjustment. The upper limit is 10%. This year’s review of rents is a comparison of the income changes of public housing residents in 17 and 19 years. According to the latest figures, the median income of public housing households was 21,000 yuan at the beginning of the year 17 and has risen to 22,900 yuan by the end of 19. About 9%.

Housing Authority Public Housing Policy Public Housing Subsidized Housing HOS