Property executive who has sold US$14 billion worth of homes over the past 20 years now has a plan to solve Hong Kong’s housing crisis
- Robert Lee Chi-hong’s plan calls for the Hong Kong government to allocate 1 per cent of its green belt to build a satellite town of 500,000 affordable homes quickly.
Robert Lee Chi-hong has sold nearly 12,000 houses valued at around US$14 billion over the past 22 years. But now he wants to build public housing.
He started off as a right-hand man to Singaporean tycoon Robert Ng Chee Siong, chairman of Sino Land and later on moved to Pacific Century Premium Developments (PCPD), controlled by Richard Li Tzar-kai, the youngest son of the city’s richest man Li Ka-shing.
“I have been involved in building numerous beautiful homes throughout my career,” said Lee, who in May retired as chief executive and deputy chairman of PCPD and was then named non-executive chairman.
Lee joined PCPD in 2004 after six years as an executive director at Sino Land. At PCPD he was heavily involved in the design of the luxury Bel-Air residential development at Cyberport.
Lee has mooted an innovative proposal in his individual capacity which, he believes, can quickly solve the city’s housing crisis.
It is the lack of affordable housing and rising income inequality that are seen as major causes of the nearly four-month long protests. The increasingly violent demonstrations have taken the economy to the verge of a recession, hitting sectors such as retail, tourism and restaurants, and hurting property prices.
Opinion: To lift Hong Kong’s mood, use 1 per cent of green belt land to build a new town with 500,000 affordable homes
His proposal calls for the use of 1 per cent of the city’s green belt to create a new satellite town of 500,000 affordable flats to be built by the government and the necessary transport links to connect it to the urban metropolis. The new satellite town would be a self-sustaining community with its own school networks, clinics, day care centres and sports and recreational facilities.
The former lawyer wants the government to build flats in three sizes – 200 square feet, 500 sq ft and 800 sq ft – and allocate it to individuals, couples and families on the waiting list for public rental housing and the nearly 200,000 people currently living in subdivided flats.
The average living space per person in Hong Kong is 161 sq ft, roughly the size of a standard 20-foot shipping container. That is half of Singapore’s average space of 323 sq ft per person. The poorest of Hong Kong’s families must put up with 50 sq ft of living space.
“If someone wants to move into a public rental flat, he or she has to compete with 270,000 other applicants who have to wait for 5 years, five months, since only an average of 15,000 units are built each year,” said Lee. “They make a mockery of our claim to be a caring and inclusive society.”
Lee said the government should waive the deposit on such flats and charge buyers 30 per cent of their monthly salaries until the loans are repaid.
Hongkongers pay a price for their low taxes through the world’s most expensive homes and smallest living space
He explained that the buildings need not be cramped and his designs call for one floor in each building to be allocated as common area for people to interact where they can “drink a cup of coffee, listen to music, read newspapers and enjoy life”.
“It is not necessary [for the plans] to be expensive. It is all about ideas … to create a nice living environment,” said Lee.
“I am very interested in taking up this project,” said Lee, but he has not yet formally proposed it to the government.
Of the 1,000 sq km of land area in Hong Kong, only 7 per cent is zoned for residential use, 40 per cent is designated as public parks and green belts.
“We have a peculiar situation in Hong Kong where people have lovely parks to watch the birds during the day but no homes to go back to at night,” said Lee.
He said that this ratio needs to be adjusted and wants the government to make bold moves to initiate changes.
