At home being young and single
The Housing Authority is becoming concerned about the growing number of applications for public housing flats to rent from young, single people. According to statistics, 44 per cent of the 32,300 new applicants in 2004-05 were single; of them, 42 per cent were under the age of 34. Options are now being floated, including imposing restrictions on single people below 35, and on those already living in public housing apartments with their parents.
Hong Kong's public housing policy was traditionally based on the needs of families, not individuals. The requirements of 'singletons' were only recognised by the authority in the late 1980s after repeated calls from pressure groups. But in the past, singletons referred mainly to middle-aged men with a low income, who because of their age and lack of economic means, were unable to find a wife or have a family, and yet were housed in poor conditions in private tenements - sometimes in so-called 'caged' housing. Still, the number of new rental housing units allocated to singletons has been limited over the years because of insufficient supply.
Today, Hong Kong is a different society; one where getting married and raising children is not the only natural way of life. There are those who wish to remain single, and our public policy should reflect the needs arising from this new social reality. A logical development is to give any adult permanent resident, irrespective of age or family status, an equal opportunity in public housing allocation, subject only to a means test. But this would greatly boost demand, as many young, unmarried adults still living with their parents may prefer to live away from home. If the government is not prepared to come up with additional housing resources to meet such an increase in demand, the authority will face a much longer queue of discontented citizens. Seeking to enlarge coverage of the public housing policy without a corresponding commitment to providing a greater supply is tantamount to hypocrisy. It gives applicants a false hope, and creates disputes between singletons and families.
Some people claim that young, single applicants, particularly those already living with their parents in subsidised rental units, are abusing public resources. Such allegations go against the notions of equality, which is considered a core community value. For pragmatic reasons, the public may well find that imposing extra restrictions to ration the limited supply is an unavoidable compromise, but important questions will remain unanswered.
Why is it that a single adult, aged, say, 30, who satisfies the means test, could be deemed to have less need or be less worthy of subsidised housing than a young adult, aged, say, 25, who happens to be married? How can one justify the claim that young, single adults below 35 are less in need of housing than older adults?
In Singapore, single people under 35 are barred from public housing allocation because of its government's pro-family policy. There is, as yet, no such policy in Hong Kong. Also, one cannot be sure that young, single adults staying with their families in public housing are less worthy of support than their counterparts in private housing, without considering how crammed their living conditions are.