Charitable landlords reject pressure to subdivide, team up with Hong Kong NGO to provide cheap, liveable homes for poor
Renovation effort on flats that could have been carved up into cubicle homes is part of plan to get families out of demeaning living conditions while they wait for public housing
It’s hard to imagine that a 50-year-old flat in a dilapidated, walk-up building could be a highly sought-after property in Hong Kong.
But the renovated interior and brightly lit, air-conditioned rooms in this home, along with the separate toilet and spacious kitchen, make it an ideal base for any of the thousands of poor families in the city squeezed into run-down, subdivided cubicles.
At least 30 low-income families are vying to live in the 550 sq ft, three-bedroom flat in Mong Kok, Kowloon, which will ideally be shared by two or three couples or small families.
The flat was renovated for HK$300,000 by non-profit group the Society for Community Organisation. It is one of a handful of repurposed old properties designed to house families in the queue for public housing, until they are allocated a flat.
Tenants will be charged no more than a quarter of their household income, or roughly HK$3,000 a month.