More public housing should be provided for tens of thousands of middle-aged single people on low incomes, according to housing advisers.
They are concerned that 35,000 people waiting for public rental flats, who are aged between 30 and 60, normally face delays of years before they can be housed.
The view emerged in talks at the Housing Authority and in a meeting of the housing panel of the Legislative Council yesterday.
'Some of these men and women are not well-educated, working as casual labourers and earning just six or seven thousands dollars a month,' panel chairman Lee Wing-tat said.
'But they pay almost half their income to rent a subdivided flat in the private sector.
'They may need to wait as long as 10 years to be housed and by that time they will be over 40. I don't think their housing needs are less than the general household's.'
