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Despite sacrifices, housing must be the No 1 priority

Whoever has doubts over the government's commitment to tackling the housing shortage should take a look at the revised flat production target for the next 10 years.

Whoever has doubts over the government's commitment to tackling the housing shortage should take a look at the revised flat production target for the next 10 years. After a year of study, it has given itself an even more ambitious output level - 10,000 more than the original estimate of 470,000 flats. This includes 290,000 public housing units and 190,000 private ones. The new targets are as reassuring as they are challenging. To ensure they can be met, some hard choices have to be made.

A fundamental change in our mindset towards land supply will be a good starting point. Too often we put the environment and other issues above the housing needs of people, and shy away from taking the bold steps that could provide more land for development. Unless we are prepared to make sacrifices, there will not be enough land to meet the city's needs.

It is true that the options are controversial. Take reclamation as an example. It is costly and may affect marine life. Yet the impacts are relatively acceptable. Equally contentious is converting some green areas into housing development. Inevitably, that requires giving up parts of our country parks. The question is how far we should go. If the loss of a small green area can satisfy the housing needs of many, there is no reason why it should not be pursued.

Housing minister Anthony Cheung Bing-leung has rightly challenged the community to accept some trade-offs in order to meet the target for new flats. While people have no problems rallying behind the greater goal of building affordable housing for all, they are less forthcoming when it comes to making some hard choices. Resistance remains strong.

But the truth is that the city does not have the luxury of toying with measures that impose zero impact. The experience of developing Tuen Mun and Tseung Kwan O in the past decades shows that we simply cannot say no to building more new towns; nor should we refuse point blank to boosting supply through land resumption, reclamation and rezoning.

It is good that the financial secretary has swiftly set aside funding in a designated housing reserve for future use. The move is yet another sign of commitment and determination in reaching the target. The government alone cannot get the job done. The community should work together and be prepared to make some tough decisions.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Housing must be the No 1 priority
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