Defining how much one needs is next step in poverty issue
Commission will have tough job of deciding which standard caters best to the city's needs
Hong Kong is finally taking a baby step on the poverty issue: consensus on the poverty line is close, and it is expected to be set at 50 per cent of median income - meaning those living on less than half that amount are considered to be living in poverty.
But details of the line - whose introduction is seen as an indication of the government taking a more serious stance on dealing with the city's poverty issues - have yet to be hammered out and nailed down.
After the standard is set, the next step would be to nail down an "equivalent scale", which would require compromise between the government and various NGOs and grassroots groups, said Commission on Poverty member Stephen Fisher, former director of the welfare department and current director-general of Oxfam Hong Kong.
An equivalent scale is needed to calculate how much money each household member requires, and each household will be assigned with an "equivalent household" value.
A household with two adults and two children may spend more than a household with four adults. A single adult may need a certain amount for basic living, but if two adults live together, there may be things that can be shared between them.
According to the Oxford equivalent scale, which is widely used in EU countries, a second adult in a household is counted as 0.7 of the first adult, and a child as 0.5 of the first adult.