Policy Address | The Public Housing Council promotes the setting of transitional housing supply targets to review the public housing rental mechanism

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Written by: Zhang Jiamin

2020-09-10 16:23

Last update date: 2020-09-10 16:23

The new policy address will be released next month. The Public Housing Council today (10th) announced its expectations for the land and housing policy, suggesting that the Long-term Planning Council should be re-established and transitional housing included in the "Long-term Planning" supply target.

In response to the earlier public housing rent increases under the epidemic, the Public Housing Council recommended that the rent adjustment mechanism should be reviewed to adjust the economic or employment data in the first half of the year as a reference indicator and grant the Housing Authority the right to implement rent-free.

The Public Housing Federation will make policy recommendations on the new policy address.

(Photo provided by the Public Housing Association)

The Public Housing Association recommends that the long-term policy committee should be re-established and private participation should be opened to meet the housing needs of different groups in society.

They also suggested that transitional housing should be included in the "Long Term Housing Strategy" supply target and set the average annual supply target at 5,000.

Since the Housing Authority was criticized for increasing rents under the epidemic in accordance with the current public housing fund adjustment mechanism earlier, the Public Housing Council suggested that the government should comprehensively review the public housing rent adjustment mechanism, and it is recommended to refer to Hong Kong’s economy or employment in the past six months before the rent adjustment. data.

If there is a large decline, it can be used as a reference indicator for determining public housing rent relief, so that in the case of economic reversal, rent-free arrangements can be standardized.

In the long run, they suggested that the "Housing Ordinance" should be considered to give the Housing Authority the statutory power to "freeze rents" under special circumstances.

They also suggested that the government speed up the introduction of a pilot scheme for cash subsidies, and strive to implement it by the end of this year at the latest.

The Public Housing Council recommends that the government should comprehensively review the public housing rent adjustment mechanism.

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The Public Housing Association suggested that the Housing Authority could launch a relocation plan to speed up the sale of back-end flats. Each year, the Housing Authority will reserve a certain number of units for tenants in the rental housing estates to apply for relocation. Relocation allowances are provided to speed up the circulation of the units and repossess them for sale.

They also proposed to extend the pilot scheme for the replacement of flats for elderly owners to the Housing Authority's home ownership and rental housing estate owners.

As for the sale of subsidized housing, the Public Housing Council proposes to set a cap on the supply of green homes. It is recommended to negotiate about not more than 20% of the estimated number of new public housing units allocated for the year. Table of opportunities for families to purchase subsidized housing.

They also suggested that the government consider allocating additional private land to the URA for the construction of the first purchase project in the future, and may also consider actively acquiring the URA’s redevelopment project land and selling it to the URA or the Housing Authority and the Housing Authority at a certain development cost. Associations and other institutions build subsidized-sale houses.

Kowloon City Lok Sin Tong Primary School was converted into transitional houses and residents were issued with occupation permits at the end of August

Henderson Land Lends Kam Tin Land to Pok Oi Hospital to build a transitional housing that can accommodate more than 6,000 people

The Housing Authority intends to increase public housing rents by 9.66% from September this year, an average increase of 200 yuan per household, a maximum of 498 yuan

Housing Authority Approves Public Housing Rent Increase Effective From September, Group Advocates Review and Adjustment Mechanism

Public housing policy