Government housing assistance for the homeless, people living in cage homes and abused women is improving and would satisfy a United Nations hearing on how the SAR is implementing a key international treaty, legislators were told yesterday.
At a panel meeting, Deputy Secretary for Housing Elaine Chung Lai-kwok said the housing policy complied with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, of which Hong Kong is a signatory.
This month, a government delegation, led by Secretary for Home Affairs Lam Woon-kwong, will tell a UN committee how the Government is implementing the covenant. The public housing policy will be scrutinised by the committee. Ms Chung said areas of concern raised by committee members during their visit earlier this year, such as over-crowding and inadequate housing for the poor were being improved.
Legislators said the Government could do more to help the needy. Democrat Albert Ho Chun-yan said the Housing Department should review its procedure of allotting public flats to couples who were getting divorced and should care for the needs of abused women. He said the Government should give them two separate flats instead of one for the parent who gets custody of the children.
Lau Kai-hung, the department's business director of allocation and marketing, said the Health and Welfare Bureau was looking at the homeless problem. He said the department would use discretionary powers when dealing with housing applicants with family problems.