The Housing Affairs Committee of the Legislative Council discussed the review of public housing income and asset limits today (6th).
Tian Beichen, a member of the Real Politics Roundtable, mentioned the sensational Longwei Village dismemberment case in an anonymous manner. One of the suspects was found to be in possession of a mansion in Kadoorie Hill worth more than 70 million yuan. Entering the Kwai Chung HOS flat, he bluntly said that he felt "headshot" at the authority's censorship system, denounced the incident as absurd, and questioned how the authorities would check it.
The Permanent Secretary of the Housing Bureau and the Director of the Housing Department, Wang Tianyu, admitted that the authorities will not require "green form persons" to declare their assets, explaining that it is to encourage capable residents to purchase HOS flats and move out of public housing, so that the authorities can reclaim public housing.
She pointed out that the case was an extreme example and would ask the Housing Authority to conduct a review.
However, some MPs seemed dissatisfied with this explanation and sneered during Wang Tianyu's answer.
Tian Beichen is concerned about how the authorities check the income limits and assets of public housing and HOS tenants.
He took the case of Cai Tianfeng’s mutilated body, which has attracted the attention of the whole city recently, as an example. He pointed out: “There was a murder case that shocked the whole of Hong Kong recently. A person involved in the case was kicked out by the media and bought tens of millions of mansions, but he was still eligible for a green form. When buying a HOS flat, everyone gets their headshots, and I don’t understand how the Housing Department checks this aspect?” Asking whether the authorities will pre-screen whether the green form applicant owns a property?
Asked why the authorities would allow the persons involved in the case to purchase HOS flats?
He also directly pointed out that many friends revealed to him that the incident was ridiculous.
He continued to point out that the authorities require public housing households to declare their income and assets every two years after they have lived in public housing for ten years, and they have to rely on reporting before the asset declaration period is reached. He bluntly said: "There are always people who can enjoy public housing benefits, and at the same time use private properties to evade profits." He believes that the government needs to fill this loophole as soon as possible, and proposes to add a review mechanism, such as requiring intermediaries, lawyers, and the Land Registry Office to immediately notify the Housing Department of the new owner's information after the completion of the building sale , allowing the authorities to compare government data with market registration data.
Wang Tianyu explained that since the introduction of the public housing policy in the 1970s, regulations on the income and assets of green form applicants have been exempted from review.
She explained that the idea behind it is to encourage people who are able to buy HOS flats to buy HOS flats as soon as possible, and then give up public housing so that the authorities can take back public housing.
Tian Beichen asked again whether the authorities would review the current system. Wang Tianyu pointed out that the relevant cases are extreme examples, but the review process is complicated, and will be reviewed and discussed in detail at the Housing Authority in the future. However, he emphasized that under the current mechanism, the purchase of HOS will not be required Persons declare their assets.
However, it seems that some members of the parliament did not pay the bill, and a sneer came from the parliament.
Yang Yongjie of the A4 Alliance believes that the person involved in the case is "one in a million", and believes that it may not be necessary to spend additional resources to review each application.
He suggested that the authorities should find out the problem, for example, they could require the relevant person to make a statement in the documents when buying a HOS flat.
Cai Tianfeng Case｜Tsang Wai-hung: It is a very few vicious cases that shock Hong Kong’s overall law and order The asset ceiling of the household public housing income limit has been raised by 1.9% overall
