Young singles in Hong Kong deprived of basic right to public housing, judicial review hears

Single Hongkongers are effectively barred from public housing because of a points-based waiting list that puts them in a different queue to everyone else, the High Court heard on Tuesday.

A single person who applies at 18 – the earliest eligible age – would be unlikely to score enough points for subsidised housing before hitting 50, a barrister said during a judicial review hearing.

But the Housing Authority said non-elderly single applicants were actually better off under the existing system.

In the first legal challenge to the housing scheme, which has about 280,000 people in the queue, Cheung Chi-keung, joined by Choi King-fung and Leong Chee-keung, sought a review of the government’s quota and points system for non-elderly single people waiting for public housing. Cheung pulled out of the suit before the hearing.

Barrister Hectar Pun SC, for Choi and Leong, said the system effectively stripped people like his clients of access to public housing and therefore violated their right to social welfare under Article 36 of the Basic Law.