【Benevolence and Power】Building Big Data on Land and Housing in Hong Kong

Mr. Huang Yuanshan, a member of the Legislative Council, asked the government about the situation and requirements for the transparency and disclosure of housing data.

This requirement is very correct. To solve the housing and land issues, Hong Kong needs to re-establish a more systematic land and housing planning database.

At present, the data related to land and housing are scattered in different government departments: the Lands Department, the Land Registry, the Rating and Valuation Department, the Housing Department, the Planning Department, etc., and should be integrated into a unified land planning database.

If the government wants to establish key performance indicators (Key Performance Indicators) and solve the problem of subdivided housing, it should have a database.

This database should contain land data, including the use of land resources and the use of housing resources.

Also, should there be a housing index?

In this regard, the real estate index of the Central Plains can be referred to, although it focuses too much on the perspective of housing investors.

The housing index should integrate complete data related to housing: how many people live in HOS?

How many people live in public housing?

How many people live in subdivided housing?

These require specific data.

Hong Kong needs to rebuild a more systematic land and housing planning database.

(File photo/Photo by Zhong Weide)

How to integrate these data?

Who is in charge?

It should be up to the chief executive-designate, Li Jiachao, to propose a committee on housing and planning issues.

In fact, the data already exists, and it is not difficult to integrate it. As long as the next administrative order, find a team of experts who are familiar with the operation of data and how to use data to develop policies.

In this regard, several universities should provide support to the government.

Only when the data is integrated can some specific KPIs be rationally formulated to solve the problem.

Half of Hong Kong's population lives in public housing, so the Housing Department's database is very rich.

It can not only be used to solve the housing problem, but also is a very important social science research resource for the medical needs, social service needs and early childhood education needs of the aging society in Hong Kong. It should be provided to scholars and experts to optimize future Hong Kong policies.

The new government will take care of this database.

Solving housing and land problems through data is the right way.

Another point to note is that in the past, the development of Hong Kong was to "eliminate" the original things and start over. However, the development program for the New Territories North, which was assisted by Mr. Ling Jiaqin, focused more on adapting measures to local conditions, rather than "one-size-fits-all". Total elimination.

So, is there any database for New Territories North Development at present?

How many traditional industries are there worth preserving in the North District?

For example, the century-old sauce garden, as well as agriculture.

How can we achieve development on the one hand, and preserve traditional industries on the other?

Can the traditional sauce garden industry be modernized and further developed into a new type of industry combining innovation and technology with sauce gardens?

All of these need to be enriched with data and specific information to study.

Therefore, on the 100th day of the new government, first of all, we should sort out the land and housing data of the whole government, and then we can formulate specific KPIs systematically and implement a result to solve the housing and land problem in Hong Kong.

Hu Enwei

is a member of the National Hong Kong and Macao Research Association, a member of the Jiangsu Provincial Political Consultative Conference, and Zuni.

Icosahedron United Artistic Director and Chief Executive Officer