Angry shopkeepers on housing estates have accused officials of losing touch with reality. After petitioning outside the Housing Department headquarters yesterday, commercial tenants' representatives met deputy director Marco Wu Moon-hoi to argue for a 30 per cent cut in rents. The hour-long meeting ended with the tenants accusing the department of failing to recognise their worsening plight. 'We urge the department to understand and sympathise with our situation,' Lam Wing-yiu, a newspaper seller on Shun Tin Estate, Sau Mau Ping, said. 'Shops are closing down all the time, leaving many people without jobs.' The group rebuked officials' claims that arcades in housing estates had been busier because of reduced competition, describing such comments as 'illogical'.