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hong kong: A major $3.4 billion plan by Hong Kong to build temporary housing to ease acute shortages is facing fierce criticism over its high cost and lack of a long-term solution in one of the world’s most unaffordable property markets.
The global financial center has long struggled with sky-high house prices, which have soared 350% over the past two decades and created one of the widest wealth gaps in the world, making housing a serious social problem. has gone, which Beijing is eager to see. City leaders deal.
chief executive of hong kong john leeAnnouncing its first major housing initiative in its policy address last year, it had promised to build “30,000 units ofLight Public Housing“over five years, with the expectation of reducing the wait time for public housing from six years to 4-1/2 years.
But critics have slammed the HK$26.4 billion ($3.36 billion) price-tag, noting that each unit costs roughly the same as permanent public housing and say the plan is merely a band-aid solution to a problem. which can potentially feed resentment.
The response to the project is a major challenge for Li after it was identified by Beijing as a key factor behind discontent, particularly among the city’s youth, which led to sometimes violent anti-government protests in 2019.
Raising the stakes for Li, Chinese President Xi Jinping last year called for a “better life, a bigger flat” for the city’s people, many of whom live in cramped subdivided flats and “cage” houses Office skyscrapers piled on wire mesh shacks, close to each other.
Simon Yau, a professor of urban studies at Hong Kong’s Lingnan University, noted criticism over the proposed locations of the houses, saying, “Wherever the location is there will be opposition voices.”
“But with this price tag, the government is using taxpayers’ money to conduct experiments,” Yau said.
Officials last month announced eight locations for the homes, which will have a unit size of 140 to 330 square feet (13 to 31 square meters) to accommodate families of one to five people.
The temporary homes of prefabricated units built using modular construction methods will be dismantled after about five years, when the sites are out of occupation.
Yau said the plan would do little to solve the housing shortage – a problem that has persisted for two decades – as 200,000 people are currently living in subdivided flats and the homes are not permanent.
smaller than parking space
A 2020 government report showed that 1.65 million people, or 23.6% of the total population of 7.5 million, were living in poverty. That compares with the city’s roughly 434,000 millionaires in 2021, according to a Citibank survey.
Hong Kong is notorious for its number of subdivided flats, estimated at 110,000 units with a median area of 124 square feet, which is smaller than a parking space. Even though their condition is very bad, but their floor rent is 70% more than the total floor rent of the city.
The government said that Light Public Housing will help tenants of subdivided flats, as rents will range from HK$780 to HK$2,650 per month, much lower than the current average of HK$5,000 rent for subdivided flats.
“Many people said that Hong Kong is a international city, but its living environment is not ideal,” Eric Chan, the city’s No. 2 official, told reporters this week.
That’s why the government is taking this step.”
On Wednesday, the government plan faced strong criticism from lawmakers, who passed a budget request of HK$14.9 billion to build the first batch of houses.
Lawmakers said the project at Kai Tak in Kowloon, the most controversial of the eight sites, would put pressure on already overburdened amenities and transport networks in the area.
“With 30,000 people added to the area, the community facilities are really inadequate,” said Starry Lee, chair of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB).
Some residents of Kai Tak said they would consider organizing protests, which would be a significant headache for the government and called for a judicial review. They said the plan is contrary to plans to create a second central business district (CBD) in the area and could impact house prices.
“It is a matter of trust in the government (plan),” said Cheung King-fan, a district councilor for the Kai Tak area.
“Is the government trying to get the work done (to increase public housing) at any cost of public money?”
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