I am writing in response to the article “Carrie Lam rules out cutting number of mainland Chinese migrants to Hong Kong in Facebook live session” (August 18), which said the Chief Executive was “accusing political activists of ‘brainwashing’ local residents into blaming people from across the border for the city’s housing shortage and inadequate resources”.

I think that, in many people's views, Hong Kong residents have not been brainwashed, this is the reality. Lam must know there are at least 1 million mainland migrants living in Hong Kong now through the one-way permit. It is in no way a small number, when the total population of the city is 7.4 million, according to the Census and Statistics Department.

The question of homes for around 1 million mainland migrants directly affects the housing situation in Hong Kong. High demand from the migrants surely has a role to play in rising home prices and rents, making them unaffordable for many low-income residents of Hong Kong. They then have to live in cage homes, coffin cubicles and subdivided flats, or sleep in McDonald's restaurants.