The decision yesterday to expand the Home Starter Loan Scheme to public housing tenants allows them to benefit from at least four subsidy schemes.
For instance, a six-member family living in a 480-square-foot flat in the Housing Authority's Yiu Tung Estate, Shau Kei Wan, pays $2,000 a month rent - a discount of about 70 per cent on current market rents.
Under the revised loan scheme, two of the family's non-principal tenants - say, the two sons - could combine to apply for a $600,000 loan to buy a flat, as could the two daughters.
Neither group can earn a monthly income exceeding $70,000.
The couple remains entitled to three housing schemes offered by the Housing Authority: the Home Ownership Scheme, the Home Purchase Loan Scheme and the Tenant Purchase Scheme.
The first two require the couple to give up its public housing flat.