New crown pneumonia | Four Questions about Housing Department-Cool bureaucrats forced the elderly to live alone

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Written by: Wu Huan Shen

2021-01-08 17:30

Last update date: 2021-01-08 17:30

An epidemic broke the daily life of Hong Kong people.

At the beginning of the new year, many people look forward to returning to a normal life as soon as possible; however, is the so-called "normal" life a good one without change?

Obviously not.

The new crown pneumonia has exposed many existing problems in society, causing the procedures and mechanisms that used to work well in the past to be slow and ruthless. For example, passive epidemic prevention measures or rescue methods can be seen by the rigid and cold bureaucrats of the SAR government. style.

If we don't reflect deeply and make improvements, how can we return to "normal"?

The "Forced Evacuation of Elderly People Living Alone" a few days ago is a living example.

Uncle Huang, who is about 60 years old, is visually impaired and lives alone in Jinglin Village, Tseung Kwan O, returned to his hometown last year to worship his ancestors. He was restricted by the "closing" quarantine policy and stayed in the Mainland until a month and a half ago. Only after the immunization measures of "E-HK" returned to Hong Kong, it was discovered that the public housing unit that had lived for 27 years had been taken back by the Housing Department because of rent arrears.

Huang Bo later sought assistance from the Housing Department, saying that he could make up the rent and request to retrieve the property in the house, but the staff asked him to report to the police. The police failed to provide assistance because the incident did not involve criminal elements.

In the end, Uncle Huang could only sleep outside the house for 10 days, relying on neighbors and district councilors to help him daily. Later, he broke into the house due to diarrhea without authorization, but all the belongings in the house have been removed.

Even more ridiculous is that the Housing Department even reported to the police that someone had occupied the vacant flats. After the police arrived at the scene for investigation, the case was classified as miscellaneous.

When interviewed by the media, Bo Huang said that he had commissioned a friend to explain the reason for the rent arrears and even paid the rent on his behalf, but the Housing Department refused.

Uncle Huang's belongings have been abandoned, and now there are only a few belongings left.

(Information Picture/Photo by Chen Leilei)

Is the procedure rigid and difficult to resolve?

This can't help but raise questions. The Housing Department has denied that it really understands the cause of Wong's rent arrears. Otherwise, how could it not be handled with discretion?

A reasonable suspicion is that the department has become rigid enough to just "do things according to the book."

In fact, during the epidemic, Bo Huang was not the only one who was unable to renew his rent due to stay or unemployment. Many of them were in trouble because of "procedural problems."

It is true that public housing is a valuable resource for society, and the Housing Department’s allocation in accordance with regulations is reasonable. However, it is obviously out of touch with a set of tenancy agreements that have been unchanged for decades. Therefore, when facing cases other than the "book" , Almost lost the ability to solve problems.

As a result, the regulations that were originally intended to ensure the "good use of resources" have become a cold shackle that disturbs the people under the sudden epidemic, making the "uncle Huang" homeless.

Staff are lazy and inflexible?

Procedures and mechanisms are certainly part of the need for reflection, but those who implement the system also have a lot of room for reflection.

For example, Uncle Huang went into the house after sleeping for 10 days due to abdominal pain, discomfort and diarrhea, but when the Housing Department learned that the unit was "occupied", it did not send personnel to the scene to understand the situation, but directly called the police; even more outrageous However, after learning about Uncle Huang’s situation, the department did not provide him with assistance in time. Instead, he moved out of bureaucratic procedures to explain the situation, saying that it could arrange for the other party to move into a transit house in the New Territories and wait until the Housing Department’s Appeal Tribunal dealt with it. Make plans.

Regardless of the poor living environment of the transit house due to poor management, anyone with a little bit of empathy will understand that if Uncle Huang, who has no relatives and no reason, suddenly moves away from the place where he has lived for nearly 30 years, he will definitely have many problems.

May I ask why the staff of the Housing Department cannot handle it with greater flexibility?

Does it mean that "everyone performs their duties," and the actual lazy government is evasive?

When the incident was revealed, the HD spokesperson still responded mechanically to media enquiries. In addition to moving out of the cold regulations, he also refused to disclose more information on the grounds of privacy. This really raises doubts that the department is not aware of the seriousness of the situation. Just want to perfunctory.

When the incident was revealed, the spokesperson of the Housing Department still responded mechanically to media enquiries without realizing the seriousness of the incident.

(Profile picture)

To solve the people’s problems or to blame the people?

In fact, it is not uncommon for public housing tenants to default on rents, and under the new crown epidemic, it is not the only case of "Uncle Huang" with special reasons.

In May last year, a lonely seventy-year-old woman in Cheung Wah Village, Fanling, owed rent due to staying in her hometown to visit relatives. The lease of a public housing unit was cancelled. In July of the same year, a 60-year-old man who had been unemployed for nearly six months also defaulted on arrears. Two months of rent and the Housing Department warned to take back the unit.

According to the previous Hong Kong Audit Office’s tenancy management report on public rental housing, the Housing Department generally blamed the problem of rent arrears as "weak civic responsibility and poor personal financial management". Therefore, it has always focused on how to ensure that tenants pay rent. The underlying reasons for tenants' rent arrears were carefully explored, so they were unable to take different actions in response to different cases to assist residents in different situations. Instead, they were "punished" by "uniformly" canceling the lease.

Is this what the government should do in order to solve the problems of people's lives?

What should we reflect on before returning to "normal"?

The Huang Bo incident shows that the bureaucracy of the Housing Department is rigid and cold, and looking at the Hong Kong government's anti-epidemic performance, its slow and lazy government is also fully exposed.

Various departments shirk their responsibilities, adhere to regulations and do not know how to deal with various new problems flexibly. In many cases, they have to rely on the people to make their own decisions. This makes many people who are in trouble "have no way to complain", and even worsens the situation.

However, relative to these administrative technical problems, a fundamental reform is needed for governance thinking. Take public housing rent arrears as an example. As of September 30, 2020, the public housing rent arrears rate is 0.76%, which is lower than that of housing. 3% of the 2020/21 target set by the Department. In principle, the number of tenants who owe rents is far below the HD standard. I believe the Department should have enough manpower and space to handle special cases such as Wong.

However, for the Housing Department and the entire SAR government, "governance" seems to be just a list of "beautiful figures." You can't see that behind the cold numbers are all living citizens.

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