Rent control, subsidies dismissed for Hong Kong – ‘but we’ll build more flats’, leader Carrie Lam says
Measures would backfire and only worsen housing problems, chief executive says
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor on Wednesday ruled out rent control or subsidies to help residents struggling with a booming housing market, saying they would backfire and only worsen the city’s problems.
Instead the chief executive pledged to find ways to increase land supply for the construction of new flats.
She dismissed accusations that she had “pitted environmental groups against the city’s grass-roots community” in a prior debate on Saturday about balancing the need for public housing with environmental protection.
Lam answered questions from 10 lawmakers on Wednesday during her monthly 30-minute Q&A session at the Legislative Council. The group included four legislators newly elected in a by-election on March 11.
One of those four, pro-establishment lawmaker Vincent Cheng Wing-shun, asked whether the government would consider subsidising rents in the private market to make life easier for lower-income families.