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SCMP Reporter

Residents affected by a redevelopment project in Sham Shui Po  fear they will not be able to afford to move back to the area.  
They urged the Housing Society,  which is responsible for five renewal projects in the district, to include public housing or Home Ownership Scheme  flats in its plans, so residents can afford to resettle in the district after the redevelopment work.
'Prices of the society's planned flats would be too high for many of our residents. This will widen the poverty gap,' said Ho Kwok-keung, who lives in the district and is a member of a group concerned about the projects.
The society said on Friday it planned to build 1,200 affordable, no-frills flats aimed at the mass market, especially first-time buyers, in the five projects, starting in 2013.
But the residents said they were disappointed the society did not consider their proposal made in September, for which they received almost 1,000 signatures in support.
The proposal included building one block of public housing, two blocks of HOS flats and two blocks of private housing, for a total of 1,182 flats. The society's plan is to build eight blocks of private housing, in four of the five projects.
'Our proposal considers the needs of different people, but the society is only responding to demands of first-time homebuyers,' said Ho.
The proposal was supported by Sham Shui Po District Council, which submitted it to the society, the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) and the Development Bureau in October. But only the society responded in January, saying it was discussing the matter with the URA, he said.
'We are calling on the authorities to consider our proposal. Many of our residents work or go to school in the neighbourhood. It will pose a great financial and psychological burden to them if they have to relocate to other districts,' Ho said.
Cheung Sin-yi, another resident and member of the concern group, said: 'They are contradicting their own urban renewal strategies, which include maintaining social linkages and proper resettlement of residents in the district.'
The URA handed over the five projects in Sham Shui Po to the society under a memorandum of understanding, a spokesman for the society said, and the society has to follow the URA's policy and strategy.
'It is the government's decision whether or not to build public housing and HOS flats,' he said but admitted the agreement did not say private housing must be built in the projects. 
'We paid full compensation in land acquisition, and houses will be sold at market prices,' he said.
The Housing Society is an independent, statutory, non-profit-making body that provides housing for low-income and middle-class families with its own resources or in partnership with the government. 
It funds its projects through property sales, commercial leasing and external borrowings.
Housing target
Number of flats that the residents' concern group proposed be built, including public and private housing: 1,182



Residents displaced by renewal projects fear being shut out