Doubt cast over singles' bid for cheap homes

The overwhelming response from young single people to the Housing Society's latest subsidised housing scheme has raised questions about how many of them are in genuine need of low-cost homes.

The society has found that 30,400 applicants - or more than half of the 58,330 applications it received for its new Greenview Villa project in Tsing Yi - are unmarried people aged under 35.

Of these singles, 20,000 are at present living with their family in public rental or Home Ownership Scheme housing.

A quota of 10 per cent of the 988 flats are reserved for singles, with the rest for households with two or more members. Buyers will be selected in a random draw later this month.

The project accepts families earning no more than HK$40,000 a month, and singles earning up to HK$25,000 a month.

Stanley Wong Yuen-fai, a member of the Long-Term Housing Strategy Steering Committee, said the significant number of applications from young singles raised the question of how many were in genuine need of subsidised housing.