'My flat is 30 sq ft and infested with bugs': Poor forced into dismal housing shows need for rent control
Low-income Hongkongers left vulnerable by complete lack of contracts or high rent increases by landlords, survey finds
To Sham Shui Po resident Mr Yeung, the idea of a permanent home is like a distant dream. Rent increases have forced him to move three times in the past year.
The 56-year-old lives on government welfare of about HK$4,000 a month and budgets about half that for his housing. That tends to get him a 30 to 40 sq ft cubicle, windowless and infested with bedbugs.
“The so-called home is more like a store room where I put my belongings,” said Yeung, who once found a unit with fewer bedbugs but couldn’t afford the HK$2,400 rent.
“The bed bugs were so bad in the past two places that I often preferred to spend the night at McDonald’s or internet cafes.”
Yet even for such modest facilities, Yeung is frequently evicted as landlords increase the rent beyond his means, forcing him to search for a new home, sometimes with as little as a week’s notice.
Yeung is far from alone. While property prices have fallen by about 5 per cent from their peak in March last year, the average cost of renting keeps increasing.
The bed bugs were so bad in the past two places that I often preferred to spend the night at McDonald’s or internet cafes