Use shipping containers for temporary housing, Hong Kong social welfare group urges
Dutch company’s offerings estimated to cost HK$190,000 per unit and hailed as desirable interim solution for those waiting years for public flats
A leading non-governmental organisation is mulling a test run to use converted shipping containers as temporary homes for people waiting in a lengthening queue for public flats in Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong Council of Social Service, a federation representing at least 400 NGOs in the city’s social welfare sector, suggested building temporary housing out of ready-made, modernised shipping containers in abandoned car parks or under flyovers.
The containers, each measuring around 200 sq ft, are insulated and equipped with their own bathroom, open kitchen, air-conditioning unit and windows.
The council is considering ordering one in the next few months from Tempohousing – a Dutch company that has built thousands of container homes in Amsterdam and abroad. The concept originated from there, where container units have provided temporary housing for students for more than a decade.
“At a time when land supply is scarce, we need innovative thinking,” the council’s chief executive Chua Hoi-wai said on an RTHK programme yesterday.