Hong Kong public wants contentious policy on rural housing overhauled
Think-tank study shows most Hongkongers back curbs on resale of homes granted to indigenous villagers under controversial policy
Most Hongkongers support reform of the small-house policy that gives indigenous male villagers in the New Territories the right to build their own homes, but there's no overwhelming consensus to abolish the practice immediately, an independent study has found.
About two-thirds of more than 1,200 people polled by the Civic Exchange think tank - half of whom had vested interests in maintaining the decades-old policy - felt there was a need for a review. About 8 per cent wanted to maintain the status quo.
But 42 per cent agreed the policy should be abolished immediately without extension or compensation to indigenous villagers, with some in a focus group study fearing that there could be "social destabilisation" if such a drastic step was taken.
The study polled 627 members of the public and 606 people with small-house interests - male indigenous villagers, their family members, relatives of men who have such rights but live overseas, and non-locals living in village houses. Organisers recruited 30 respondents for focus-group discussions in March.
Respondents in general supported curbing the resale of small houses and requiring residency in the city for a continuous period to qualify for applying, according to Civic Exchange, which was founded by environment undersecretary Christine Loh Kung-wai. Loh had criticised the policy before she joined the government.
Survey organisers also recommended a halt to the practice of periodically expanding village zones in a city where land for housing everyone else is so scarce. "There is broad support for change and only some opposition from a tiny minority," said Michael DeGolyer, director of Baptist University's Hong Kong Transition Project, one of the study's researchers.