How co-living for old and young could ease Hong Kong’s housing crisis and create a more caring community
- Polly Chu says cross-generational co-living and shared houses for the elderly would address both the ageing population and the need for affordable housing
- Government oversight would be required to ensure safety and that co-living spaces do not degenerate into subdivided flats
Housing is a problem that has haunted Hong Kong for decades. Most working-class people, including highly paid professionals, work themselves to the bone only to find themselves struggling to afford a roof over their heads. There are various solutions to the housing problem; one is adopting the global trend of co-living arrangements.
Cross-generational co-living is not a completely foreign concept to Hong Kong. In 2008, the Housing Department introduced the Harmonious Families Priority Scheme, under which priority for public rental housing allocation would be given to applicants with elderly family members. If we could put this concept into action on a larger scale, with reference to overseas examples, we might be able to ease the housing problem while creating a more caring and supportive community.
Another hallmark example comes from the Netherlands. Dutch university students are offered free accommodation in senior nursing homes in exchange for them volunteering 30 hours a month to “act as neighbours” to the elderly residents. In both these cases, cross-generational co-living has been well received.
