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Written by: Commentary Editing Room
2021-02-11 07:00
Last update date: 2021-02-11 07:00
According to data released by the Housing Authority on Tuesday (9th), as of the end of last year, Hong Kong had accumulated more than 250,000 public housing applications. Although the number of cases was further reduced from 260,000 in the previous quarter, the waiting time was over 21. New high since the year.
Although the Housing Authority pointed out that due to the epidemic and the destruction of Fai Ming Village in Fanling, the waiting time for public housing was affected, it is an indisputable fact that there is a strong demand for housing in Hong Kong.
In addition to the long-term need to speed up land search and increase housing supply, the government must also speed up the development of transitional housing in the short term to meet the people's temporary housing needs.
The waiting time for public housing has reached a record high.
According to the latest information from the Housing Authority, as of the end of last year, Hong Kong had accumulated 253,400 public housing applications. The average waiting time for general and elderly one-person applications increased to 5.7 years and 3.4 years respectively, both of which set new highs since 1999.
Although according to the Housing Authority’s statistics last year, the number of newly registered public housing applicants fell to the lowest level in five years, but the Housing Authority member Zhao Guowei also predicts that even though the average waiting list for public housing this year may not exceed six years, it will still remain high. , And the continuous increase in the average waiting time for one-person elderly applications also needs the attention of the authorities.
Property prices in Hong Kong are high, the waiting time for public housing is long, and sub-divided housing has become more expensive.
(Photo by Ou Jiale)
Walk on two legs
To solve the housing shortage problem, the fundamental way is to increase supply, but it is difficult to find land to build houses overnight. Therefore, in the short term, the government must vigorously develop transitional housing to alleviate the suffering of the public.
Since the government announced in June 2018 that transitional housing is a new housing measure, and the budget set aside 2 billion yuan in the next year to support non-governmental organizations to build transitional housing, although the Transport and Housing Bureau said there will be 13,000 units one after another The launch, on the surface, is close to the official goal of 15,000, but the reality is that the completed projects account for only 1,174 units, and about 2.3 thousand and 6.8 thousand units are projects that are under construction or are about to start, plus about The 3,000 units under study can be considered to be still a long way from the target.
Furthermore, as many as 120,000 households in Hong Kong are still living in poor environment such as wooden huts, squatter huts and rooftop structures. It can be seen that the demand for transitional housing is so great that only one-tenth of the number of units can be solved.
In the forthcoming "Budget", the government should consider allocating additional resources to develop subsidized housing to catch up with the goal of building housing.
As suggested by the Public Housing Council, the government can introduce rental concessions, such as reduced payment of property tax and rates, to alleviate the financial worries of non-governmental organizations participating in the scheme.
In addition, some members of the Legislative Council in the past also quoted voices from the construction industry that transitional housing projects need to meet very high construction specifications, resulting in high construction costs and long construction time. Therefore, the government may consider increasing the current maximum of 200,000 (vacant residential Buildings) and 550,000 yuan (for construction of temporary structures on vacant land and for non-residential buildings) financial assistance will be increased accordingly to catch up with changes in construction costs.
But even if there are non-governmental organizations actively participating, the government must still take the initiative to help them deal with land supply constraints.
Rather than relying on donations from developers, the authorities need to make good use of idle land at hand and expedite the approval of applications for the conversion of relevant land to pre-built houses. For example, in the middle of last year, the government held 234 vacant school buildings. There are 36 sites that can be used by non-governmental organizations for short-term non-profit-making purposes and have great potential to develop into transitional housing.
It is true that transitional housing is ultimately only an expedient measure to alleviate the housing shortage problem. However, under the constraints of many realities, it is necessary for the Hong Kong government to walk on two legs to take care of the urgent needs of the people's housing first.
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Housing Authority Public Housing Waiting for Transitional Housing 01 Viewpoint