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Written by: comment editing room
2020-11-12 07:00
Last update date: 2020-11-12 07:00
On Tuesday (November 10), the ADPL moved a motion in the Sham Shui Po District Council to request the government to use the Land Resumption Ordinance to resume the development of public housing in Tai Hang Sai Village.
The redevelopment of housing estates was a consensus of all parties, but due to financing, resettlement and transit arrangements, it has been delayed.
Recently, it has been reported that the government has contacted the URA to cooperate with the owners of the estate in the reconstruction, but the URA's ability to perform this job is questioned.
Tai Hang Sai Village has been completed one after another since 1964. It is the only existing private low-rent housing village in Hong Kong. There are currently about 1,300 units inhabited.
In the past, the government granted land at a preferential price to the non-profit-making "Hong Kong Civilian Building Co., Ltd." for construction, leasing and management to provide low-income people with low-cost housing.
Unlike other urban renewal projects, the community has very little opposition to the decision to rebuild Tai Hang West Village.
The residents themselves can hardly tolerate the disrepair of the housing estate and the lack of elevators, so they naturally hope to move to a comfortable home.
The owner also asked the government's opinions on reconstruction as early as 2011, and proposed a plan in 2016.
The government is also happy to see that the plot ratio of the land can be used to allow more residents to move into urban units.
As the parties have little disagreement on reconstruction, the Town Planning Board designated the relevant lot as a "Comprehensive Development Area" as early as 2010 for future reconstruction.
However, the parties have been unable to discuss specific reconstruction plans.
Several times the civilian houses suggested that they did not meet the land lease requirements, that is, at least 1,600 units should be built for low-income people to rent, and at the same time, all existing tenants cannot be replaced.
Although the Town Planning Board did not consider this provision when it passed the plan for civilian houses in 2016, it finally added "guidance provisions" on relocation arrangements, requiring the provision of rental subsidized units to cooperate with existing tenants, and prohibiting relocation. Revising the land lease before the completion of the purchase barely provides some protection to the tenant.
In 2018, the "Policy Address" listed the plan in the housing policy content, stating that "subject to proper arrangements for the resettlement of residents, it will strongly support the company to implement the reconstruction plan as soon as possible and provide necessary assistance." Unfortunately, two years have passed since the government and The owner still has no concrete actions.
At the beginning of last month, the TV station quoted news reporting that the government finally contacted the URA to study cooperating with the owners to promote redevelopment projects. The preliminary plan was to adopt a "rentable, buyable" model for existing residents in two of the buildings, while the rest were subsidized for sale. unit.
After the Tai Hang West Village redevelopment plan was approved by the City Planning Commission in June 2016, there has been no progress. In the past, residents asked the government to take over.
(Profile picture/Photo by Zhang Haowei)
The use of the Land Resumption Ordinance may not be suitable
In all fairness, it is reasonable for the owner to handle the issue of land grants and redevelopment through private agreements. However, when the residents are eagerly looking forward to the redevelopment and the redevelopment is very effective, it is also a good thing that the government is willing to increase its participation.
The most ideal situation will naturally be that the government and the owner of the property negotiate to terminate the agreement and regain control of land planning.
However, the directors of the civilian houses as the owner have a background in real estate and banking. They know that the land is precious and are generally looking forward to the redevelopment and development of the lot.
In particular, the government proposed arrangements to make it necessary to bear the full cost of reconstruction and land premiums. Later, it was necessary to arrange transfers and allocate a considerable proportion of units for permanent low rents. The calculations were not cost-effective, so the reconstruction plan was put aside.
Nevertheless, the "Land Resumption Ordinance" proposed by the ADPL may not be applicable to this project.
Although the government has stated that the relevant regulations can be cited for public use reasons, and the construction of public housing is indeed a public use, the regulations usually only deal with land sold and not granted by private agreements, so this may not be in line with legal logic.
Moreover, the granting of land by private agreements generally restricts the owner from transferring the land in the market, so there is no possibility of profit from land sales. However, the use of regulations allows the owner to earn land price profits through compensation, which may cause disputes.
A crack appeared on the wall of the corridor.
(Photo by Zhang Haowei)
Housing association participation is more appropriate
On the other hand, it is not necessarily a good choice for the URA to come forward to promote the redevelopment plan.
Most of the completed units of the URA’s redevelopment projects are for sale, and very few units are leased out. Recently, the URA has repeatedly emphasized that it must be self-financing and is also planning financing. It is questionable whether the units can maintain a low-rent trend in the future.
Compared with the URA, the Housing Association is more suitable for cooperating with property owners.
First of all, the Housing Association has been shouldering the mission of building affordable housing since its establishment, and it is logical to take over the construction of Tai Hang West Village.
Second, the Housing Association has been operating subsidized sale and rental units, and the society is more confident in the housing association's control of rental prices.
The government, civilian housing and housing associations should work together to consider speeding up the pace of reconstruction in this direction and improving the housing environment of these residents.
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