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Written by: Commentary Editing Room
2021-01-06 17:00
Last update date: 2021-01-06 17:00
A visually impaired 60-year-old solitary man living in King Lam Village, Tseung Kwan O, returned to his hometown last year to worship his ancestors. He was stranded in the Mainland due to the outbreak of the epidemic. However, after returning to Hong Kong last month, he was surprised that his public housing unit had been taken back by the Housing Department because of rent arrears. His belongings were also confiscated, and he was finally left to sleep outside the house for ten days.
This kind of tragedy could have been resolved with discretion, but the rigid administrative procedures not only failed to take into account the public's situation under the epidemic, but also pointed out that if the tenants had nowhere to be arranged to live in a shelter, the bureaucratic demeanor was obvious.
After the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic last year, Huang Bo returned to Shantou to pay homage to his parents in early January. He was stranded in the Mainland for fear of not being able to survive the quarantine period. He was not able to return to Hong Kong until the government launched the "Easy Return to Hong Kong" quarantine exemption measure last month.
However, after Huang Bo returned to King Lam Village, Tseung Kwan O, he found that the public housing unit he had lived in for 27 years had been forcibly taken back due to arrears of rent. The TV, wardrobe, washing machine and bank books were also confiscated.
Uncle Huang claimed that he had contacted his friends in Hong Kong to pay the rent on his behalf, but was rejected by the Housing Department. After he was living on the street, he had knocked on the door of the police station to ask for admission, but he was refused in the end. In the end he had to sleep outside the house 10 During the days, I had to rely on my neighbors and district councilors to help me survive the cold.
District councillors have written a plea for Huang Bo.
(Photo by Chen Leilei)
According to the current regulations of the Housing Department, if a tenant is in arrears of rent for three consecutive months, the Housing Department will terminate the tenancy agreement. If the tenant wants to re-enter a public housing, he must first pay the rent owed.
Although public housing is a valuable resource of society, it is reasonable for the Housing Department to make good use of and allocate public resources. However, during the epidemic period, entry and exit were greatly restricted, and many citizens lost their jobs due to the layoffs. Continuing to do things according to the book, not only did not see the discretion to deal with the problem of rent arrears, but also moved out of the bureaucratic procedures to solve the problem, saying that the authorities can arrange transfer houses according to the situation.
Rarely do they know that Uncle Huang has already been on the streets?
Huang Bofei's lone bureaucracy harms people
What's more, Huang Bo's experience also had an early precedent during the epidemic.
In May last year, a single-lived 70-year-old woman in Xianghua Village, Fanling, returned to visit her relatives, but was stuck because of customs in the Mainland. During this period, the staff of the Housing Department failed to contact the tenants and issued a notice of eviction according to the established procedures to terminate her Fortunately, the tenants paid all the arrears in time, and the Housing Department approved the re-approval of the lease application at its discretion.
In addition, in July last year, a 60-year-old unemployed man was unable to pay his rent due to financial constraints. He was warned by the Housing Department that he must pay his rent before the deadline, otherwise his flat would be recovered.
In the end, the man was fortunate to have the help of a charity to temporarily avoid living on the street.
These examples show that the current system not only does not tolerate a little bit of favor and flexibility, and offers assistance to people in distress, it is also the culprit in taking away their homes.
Procedures and mechanisms are indeed indispensable for governance. Administrative measures are also a customary way to ensure that public resources can be allocated according to uniform procedures and criteria. However, complex systems must also be implemented by people. Under the division of labor, each The staff are like the cogs of a machine, they only take care of their responsibilities, but they never know how to go beyond the rules and ask about Huang Bo’s rent arrears, and leave everything to the Housing Department’s Appeal Tribunal. Naturally, the above-mentioned ruthlessness appears. "Injustice".
During the epidemic period, citizens have their own hardships. In addition to clarifying the scope and conditions of discretion for frontline staff, the authorities must also handle public housing rent arrears with greater flexibility to prevent citizens from falling into the streets due to ruthless bureaucratic procedures.
Does the government have the courage to promote housing reform?
｜Yu Pinhai
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