Hong Kong urged to boost public housing space and speed up flat allocation
Hong Kong authorities should set targets in the city’s first five-year development plan to increase the average living space for public housing tenants and raise the minimum size of subsidised sale flats as supply grows, a concern group has urged. The Federation of Public Housing Estates also said on Thursday that the government should make clear it aims to reduce the average waiting time for…
A Hong Kong-based concern group has urged the authorities to establish targets in the city's first five-year development plan to enhance public housing space and speed up flat allocation. Currently, the average waiting time for a public rental flat is 5.6 years, which decreases to 4.7 years when temporary housing allocations are considered.
Federation of Public Housing Estates chairman Man Yu-ming emphasized that although the government has made progress in reducing the waiting time, significant work remains to achieve a three-year target. The federation suggested raising the minimum living space for public flats from the current 7 square metres to no less than 10 square metres.
In addition, they proposed setting a minimum size of 350 square feet for subsidised sale flats, with at least half of the properties under a project designated as larger flats. This strategy could be feasible due to the anticipated delivery of about 175,300 public homes between 2026-27 and 2030-31. Furthermore, the federation advocated for a long-term goal of balancing public rental and subsidised sale housing at a 50:50 ratio by 2030.
Lawmaker Scott Leung Man-kwong called for the formation of a steering committee to review housing demand and population changes, ultimately providing long-term goals by 2030.
Written by urgent.news from South China Morning Post's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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