In this year’s Policy Address, the Government proposed to subsidize non-governmental organizations to rent hotels and guesthouses as transitional housing for people living in unsuitable accommodation and waiting for public housing.
However, some hotel industry and social service organizations reported that obstacles were discovered only after participating in the plan, and the responsible Transport and Housing Bureau was approved for lack of coordinating power.
Since the bureau has promised to assist grassroots families with their utmost determination to move into suitable homes, and transitional housing is one of the strategies, officials must try their best to allow stakeholders to contribute to good things, especially to clarify application conditions and information dissemination.
The government launched a pilot program this year to subsidize non-governmental organizations to rent hotels or guesthouses as transitional housing through the Community Care Fund. So far, the bureau has approved two projects involving one hotel and 14 guesthouses with a total of 241 rooms, with a budget of about 30 million yuan.
Su Weiwen, deputy director of the Transportation and Housing Bureau, said in an interview on Wednesday (28th) that there are more than a dozen non-governmental organizations and more than 30 hotels for research cooperation, involving more than 400 rooms.
The latest "policy address" announced that it will subsidize non-governmental organizations to rent hotels or guesthouses as transitional housing.
(Information Picture/Photo by Zheng Zifeng)
Judging from the hotel registration list published by the bureau on the Internet, the number of rooms exceeds 1,500. Although the number has exceeded the bureau’s target of 800, the number of rooms requested by the hotel will only account for more than 10% of the total number of 12,274 hotel rooms in 2020. , The level of enthusiasm is average.
Even if business in the hotel industry is bleak under the epidemic, it seems that only a few consider the government plan to be a lifesaver.
The response from the hotel industry was mediocre. One of the reasons was the conflict between the pilot scheme and the licensing arrangement, which discouraged the industry.
In order to crack down on unlicensed guesthouses, the Home Affairs Bureau implemented new laws in December last year. However, a one-year transition period was set up to allow existing guesthouses to comply with the new regulations. During this period, licensees can apply for renewal according to the original requirements, and the new licenses will be no more than One year.
The door does not open, the small door does not open
Some hotels that have renewed their licenses at the end of last year have been renewed for one year as expected, but this is in contradiction with the pilot plan's requirement that hotels should sign contracts with NGOs for two years.
The community organizations and associations participating in the pilot project bluntly stated that they are worried about cooperating with hotels with a one-year license period because they do not know what the business environment will be next year.
The Social Association had communicated with more than 40 hotels in 3 months and successfully rented 6 hotels in Yau Tsim Mong District, providing a total of 80 rooms, 36 of which have been successfully occupied.
(Photo by Zeng Fengting)
Su Weiwen mentioned three points to appease the industry: 1. So far, no funding application has been rejected due to licensing issues. 2. It is said that it will "provide convenience and assistance" for hotels and guesthouses that are less than two years old; 3. The remaining one Hotels with a license period of one year can also apply.
However, the reply from the Deputy Secretary failed to relieve his doubts.
First of all, the claim that there is no disapproval is just because non-governmental organizations first removed hotels whose licenses were about to expire and selected stable targets?
Second, what is the convenience and assistance?
Will it be automatically renewed for one more year?
He needs to explain more.
Third, some people in the hotel industry learned that they could sign contracts with NGOs after the Secretary responded. They seem to indicate that there is a misunderstanding of the information between the government and the industry, and the problem of whether guests can continue to stay in the contracted hotel after one year has not been resolved.
Information circulation should be strengthened
The information gaps held by stakeholders are also seen in the negotiation process.
The current practice is for non-governmental organizations to contact hotels on their own according to the list provided by the government.
The person in charge of the hotel stated that they had no way of knowing how long they would have to wait or under what conditions they could be selected, thinking that the government was passive and that both parties would implement it.
Ms. Liu, the person in charge of Ruyi Hotel, pointed out that the industry's income has plummeted under the epidemic.
The launch of the plan will help the industry to make short-term emergency response and achieve a double-win situation, but the government's support is low, making it difficult for them to participate in the plan and successfully match.
(Photo by Zeng Fengting)
Perhaps the government thinks that it has done a lot of work for the operation, such as reviewing the qualifications of hotels, assisting in formulating funding proposals, preparing a template for cooperation memorandum, etc. It does not know that the waiting process and negotiating contracts are the pain points.
If the government wants to facilitate cooperation between the two parties, it can take one or two more steps to strengthen its leading role, such as setting up an online platform for NGOs to express their cooperation intent to hotels, or even organizing matching meetings for both parties to introduce each other.
In fact, hotels and guesthouses can only arrange for transitional housing halfway through, but since the plan is proposed by the government, officials have the responsibility to make proper arrangements to facilitate the participation of hotels and non-governmental organizations and speed up the time for the grassroots to improve their living environment.
In fact, not only the transition housing measures, but also the application for welfare, market and other items are also very complicated, and the public has to go through multiple government departments.
If officials are really committed to serving the public, they should conceive the implementation process from the perspective of the public, break down the walls and loosen the restrictions, reduce the contradiction between measures, and improve the effectiveness of governance.
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