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Public housing plans to increase rents against the market by 9.6%

2020-07-07T05:52:56.667Z


The Housing Authority earlier proposed to increase rents by 9.66% against the market starting September 1. The Secretary for Transport and Housing Chen Fan suggested afterwards that a two-month rent waiver can be provided for public housing tenants to offset the impact of rent increase on tenants. The Legislative Council Housing Panel met today (6th) to discuss. At the meeting, many Members criticized the government for increasing rents against the market during the epidemic, and suggested that the government consider freezing rents and reviewing the mechanism. Chen Fan said that the public housing rent adjustment mechanism has a legal basis, and the government supports the spirit of the rule of law. Unless the relevant laws have been revised, they must be adjusted as required. Chen also said that the government will "specialize in special cases" and intends to waive public housing tenants' rent for two months, which has the same effect as freezing rent. The authorities are also open to the review mechanism.


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Written by: Wang Jieen

2020-07-06 17:48

Date of last update: 2020-07-06 17:48

The Housing Authority earlier proposed to increase rents by 9.66% against the market starting September 1. The Secretary for Transport and Housing Chen Fan suggested afterwards that a two-month rent waiver can be provided for public housing tenants to offset the impact of rent increase on tenants. The Legislative Council Housing Panel met today (6th) to discuss.

At the meeting, many Members criticized the government for increasing rents against the market during the epidemic, and suggested that the government consider freezing rents and reviewing the mechanism. Chen Fan said that the public housing rent adjustment mechanism has a legal basis, and the government supports the spirit of the rule of law. Unless the relevant laws have been revised, they must be adjusted as required. Chen also said that the government will "specialize in special cases" and intends to waive public housing tenants' rent for two months, which has the same effect as freezing rent. The authorities are also open to the review mechanism.

The Secretary for Transport and Housing Chen Fan stated that the adjustment mechanism for public housing rents is based on the legal basis. Unless the laws have been changed, they must be adjusted as required. (Profile picture/photo by Yu Junliang)

Refers to the tenant income growth rate is higher than the rent increase rate

The public housing rent adjustment mechanism is alleged to be inflexible, resulting in an increase in rents against the market. When attending the Legislative Council, Chen Fan emphasized that after five years of detailed discussions and consultations by the Housing Authority, between 2007 and 2019, public housing tenants' overall income increased by 106.2% in 12 years. However, the rent for the same period, together with the results of this rent review, only increased by 68.1%. It is believed that the increase in tenants' income is much higher than the increase in rent.

Chen Fan also said that the ratio of the average rent of public housing to the average household income of tenants has dropped from 9.97% in 2007 to the current 9.39%. He said that under the current mechanism, since the rent increase is 10% "capped", under this measure, the ratio of rent to household income will continue to improve in the long run.

Kwong Jun-woo, a member of the Democratic Legislative Council, criticized the government for increasing the rent indifferently against the market, as if it were "cutting the grassroots." (Photo by Luo Junhao)

Said "special affairs special office" free of rent for two months

At the meeting, many Members criticized the government for raising rents against the market, fearing that it would take the lead and coupled with the serious unemployment problem in Hong Kong. This time it is difficult to reflect the economic downturn. The Government suggested that the Government consider freezing rents and adjusting the mechanism. Kwong Jun-woo, a member of the Democratic Legislative Council, even criticized the government for being insensitive, as if it were "cutting the grassroots."

Chen Fan emphasized that the adjustment mechanism is based on the law, and unless the law has been changed, it must be adjusted as required. He also said that the government will "specialize in special cases" and intends to waive the two-month rent waiver, which is equivalent to freezing rent. Together with other bail-out measures this year, there will be a 4.14-month rent waiver.

Chen Fan also said that although the government measures are not the same as the operation of freezing rent, the effect is the same. He also described the relevant measures on the surface, although it is not a frozen rent, but the spirit and operation are consistent with the frozen rent proposal.

The Housing Authority plans to increase public housing rents by 9.66% from September this year

Housing Authority adopts 10% increase in public housing rents

Lu Songxiong, a member of the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions, emphasized that rent waiver does not mean frozen rent, and the Government should not be confused. (Information picture/Photo by Lu Yiming)

Members criticized that rent-free does not mean frozen rent

However, some Members "do not accept goods". Lu Songxiong, a member of the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions, said that rent waiver does not mean frozen rent. It is described as "a bit of sugar and a bit of shit." Since the actual rent has increased, it will definitely affect the next rent adjustment data. The two should not be confused. He said that there is a need for the authorities to review the rent increase mechanism to prevent a further rent increase decision "beyond the ground" when the economy goes down again.

Chen Fan responded that the authorities are open to the review mechanism and will later be referred to the Housing Authority’s subsidized housing team for research. Therefore, there is no such thing as “constant”.

Public housing plus rent public housing policy

Source: hk1

All news articles on 2020-07-07

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