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1 in 5 live below poverty line, welfare body says

Jennifer Ngo

Almost a fifth of Hongkongers live below the poverty line, according to a report compiled by a welfare body that has proposed a seven-point agenda to tackle the problem.

The Hong Kong Council of Social Service, an umbrella organisation for voluntary agencies and NGOs, also says the lack of services for the poor and disabled is alarming, with waiting lists for some services of more than six years in some districts.

The seven areas the council says need action include services for the handicapped and the elderly, as well as poverty alleviation and housing.

Christine Fang Meng-sang, council chief executive, said central and local planning was needed. 'With so many living below the poverty line in a cosmopolitan city like Hong Kong, it would be a big mistake to ignore the needs of the poor.'

The council reported that 18 per cent of the city's population earned only half the median income. For example, a three-person household might earn just HK$7,000 a month.

The worst-affected district last year was Yuen Long, with 23.5 per cent living below the poverty line. Kwun Tong and Sham Shui Po followed with 22 per cent.

Yet the number of poverty alleviation groups in district councils has dropped from nine in 2006 to a lone unit in Sham Shui Po last year.

Queues for special social services can be long. A centre for handicapped children has a 19-month wait in Southern District - the longest in the city. Waiting for a spot in a sheltered workshop for the mentally handicapped can be 76 months in North District, and the queue for a daily activity centre for the more seriously mentally handicapped goes up to 54 months in Tai Po.

Chua Hoi-wai, the council's business director for policy advocacy and social enterprise, said long queues for different services proved that supply was well below demand.

Also on the agenda are the creation of barrier-less neighbourhoods for the physically handicapped, and elderly-friendly neighbourhoods.

The council said it hoped the seven points would be included in district council candidates' agendas. Fang said the council had been meeting political parties in the past two weeks. 'So far, we've had mostly positive feedback,' she said.

A spokeswoman for the Labour and Welfare Bureau said there had been a decrease in people living in poverty. The government 'attaches great importance to poverty alleviation work' and 'adopts a multi-pronged approach to tackle poverty', which includes education, social security and the minimum wage, she said. The recurrent annual expenditure on welfare is expected to reach HK$147.5 billion in 2011-12.

She said the government had allocated additional recurrent financing for day training and vocational-rehabilitation training, as well as additional finance for pre-school services. The government also plans to finance an additional 1,500 home care places for the frail elderly in 2011-12 - an additional 30 per cent increase to the existing home care service quotas. The government is also planning 185 more day care places for the elderly in the coming year.

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