Social enterprise advocate obtains flats and rents them out to Hong Kong's less fortunate
Light Be chief executive Ricky Yu obtains homes and then rents them out to people like single mothers who cannot afford private rents
The small flat off Hollywood Road in Sheung Wan is light and airy. A little bike and other toys for a tot are neatly stored against the living room wall. At the back, there are two bedrooms with bunk beds and on the other side a corridor leads down to a kitchen and a bathroom. This is a renovated home in an old tenement building.
Single mum Wendy - not her real name - shares one bedroom with her daughter, 14, and son, three. In the other bedroom are another single mother and her daughter. For Wendy and her children, it's a chance to find a base, without worrying that she can't afford the rent. It's a peaceful, modern place for the family.
"Government public housing isn't flexible," says Ricky Yu Wai-yip, the chief executive of Light Be, a social enterprise housing programme launched in 2012.
People receive public housing through allocation after queueing up, he says. They can't decide when and where they get it, which is why affordable housing still has a role to play for residents on the breadline.
Around five years ago, Yu, 47, was a general manager with Amway Hong Kong, so while he had business sense, he had no connection with the property market or social welfare. "I knew nothing about real estate," he says cheerfully. "Which meant I had no boundaries, because I knew nothing."
He had seen the subdivided flats, which landlords often used to exploit vulnerable families and single people by multiplying the amount of rent garnered from one flat. Yu wanted to take the exploitation out of that model, ensuring the flats shared were light, airy, safe and quiet with affordable rent for the tenants - providing a sanctuary or a breathing space for three years, after which tenants have the chance to move on into other forms of shared housing or public housing.
Wendy, 40, is divorced. Her ex-husband was unable to provide for his children due to illness. Her social worker referred her to Yu. "All our clients must be referred by social workers as they know who needs an apartment most," Yu says.