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Written by: comment editing room
2020-11-03 17:30
Last update date: 2020-11-03 17:30
Living is a big problem in Hong Kong society.
To cope with the short supply of public housing, the government has actively provided transitional housing. At the beginning of this year, the supply target was raised to 15,000, and land for 12,700 units has been found.
Not only that, the government was approved by the Legislative Council on Monday (2nd) to establish a "Transitional Housing and Sub-Committee on Sub-Committee" and plans to inject another 3.3 billion yuan.
The transitional housing "Nanchang 220" has been occupied earlier. Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor visited Nanchang Street in Sham Shui Po last Thursday (October 29) and visited two families.
She further stated that more transitional housing projects will be launched as soon as possible.
The Chief Executive, who is preparing the Policy Address, seems to be paying more attention to people’s livelihood and housing issues recently. However, she should not forget that transitional housing is just a stopgap measure when the supply of public housing is in short supply. It is only to meet the urgent need. The focus of the government’s work should be to increase housing supply.
Aberdeen Yu Kwong Village is the first "Temporary Rental Housing" program launched by the Housing Society to free up 200 vacant units as transitional housing.
(Photo/Photo by Ou Jiale)
Where is the transition house transition?
Transitional housing was originally meant for families who have been waiting for a long time on the public housing waiting list and households with poor living conditions to temporarily relieve their plight.
The Administration expects that the rent level of transitional housing will be lower than the relevant market rent, and the ceiling will not exceed 40% of the current public housing income limit.
The lease term of transitional housing is generally two years. However, it is still difficult to guarantee whether the tenants can successfully enter the public housing after two years.
After the expiration of the lease of transitional housing, tenants may have to transition from subdivided housing to subdivided housing again.
According to the Housing Department, as of the end of June 2020, there were more than 150,000 applications for general public housing, and the average waiting time has reached 5.5 years.
If it is assumed that the current growth in the supply of public housing remains unchanged, it is still quite difficult for residents to move into public housing within two years of moving into transitional housing.
The government’s 15,000 transitional housing targets were completed immediately and on time. In the face of a huge number of public housing applications, the transitional role of transitional housing is still quite limited, and the housing problem of residents cannot be solved at all.
Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said that the transitional housing target for the next three years has been met, and the "overweight" will be increased from 10,000 to 15,000.
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Recognize the transitional nature of land resumption to build public housing
In addition to the large number of applicants for public housing, the annual progress report of the Long Term Housing Strategy released in 2019 also pointed out that there are nearly 120,000 households living in poor environments in wooden houses, squatters and rooftop structures in Hong Kong.
Facing the fundamental problem of housing shortage in Hong Kong, the government needs to recognize the transitional nature of transitional housing.
Where residents can finally "transition", the government always needs to fundamentally solve the problem of insufficient housing supply.
Transitional housing will be a major source of short-term housing supply. It takes time to find land to build houses, and the demand may continue in the next few years.
Transitional housing must be combined with the addition of public housing. Transitional housing can only allow residents to live in for two years. While the government takes care of residents' short-term needs, it still has to increase the supply of public housing to meet housing needs.
Residents in Hong Kong have been waiting for public housing for several years. Where they should "transition" after moving into transitional housing, the government still needs to find land to build houses, follow the progress of public housing expansion, and work out a specific "sunset" timetable for the transitional housing plan.
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