Back in October, Secretary for Development Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said she hoped the Urban Renewal Authority would provide no-frills, affordable homes whenever possible.
By no-frills, she meant they would have no clubhouses, no unnecessary facilities and just small parking areas. The move toward cheaper flats was a response to public demand for more affordable housing.
But a new, 23-page working strategy for the authority, released yesterday, makes not mention of no-frills housing.
A spokesman for the authority said: 'It will not be an across-the-board policy to offer no-frills flats in every project. We will do it in some cases only.' He said the minister would announce the implementation details later.
In a pilot project last year in Tai Kok Tsui, the authority set out conditions in the tender document requiring half of the 72 flats to be smaller than 500 square feet. The bid was won by Sino Land in December.
The new strategy, which will apply to future projects to be announced by the authority, was formulated after a two-year review led by the Development Bureau with public consultation. Another two-month consultation was conducted after the draft text was issued last October.
During the consultation, the Real Estate Developers Association said the authority should not go solo except in projects that are financially weak. It also opposed the authority involving itself in areas where private developers had acquired most properties. In response, the government said the authority had the right to step in if home owners jointly make a request for redevelopment because the building conditions are poor.