Revealed: heartbreaking plight of 40,000 Hong Kong children stunted by life in tiny flats ... and it’s getting worse
Study by Society for Community Organisation shows housing remains top concern for city’s underprivileged youngsters
More than 40,000 Hong Kong children are living in such cramped conditions that their physical, psychological and emotional development is being stunted massively, according to a major new study on top concerns of underprivileged children.
The number is up by more than 10,000 from last year.
Housing continues to top the list of worries for the children who took part in the only targeted exercise canvassing views of underprivileged children in Hong Kong.
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“Various studies have shown how detrimental living in such tight places can be to children. Even sleeping could be a problem – many children say that they couldn’t even sleep well because of the bed bugs and the bad air,” said Sze Lai-shan from the Society for Community Organisation, which has done this report for the 11th year.
Of the 1,800 underprivileged children who took part in the discussion and voting on the top 10 concerns of 2015, 70 per cent live in subdivided flats, said the community organiser.
Subdivided flats – units sliced out of an apartment, usually in old tenement buildings – can range in size from 60 square feet to 130 square feet, which could house a whole family.
Housing Authority figures estimated that around 170,000 people lived in subdivided flats in 2013, with the number increasing to 190,000 this year as rents continue to rise.
Over half a million people are queuing up for public housing flats – with over 102,000 being under 18 years of age – as the government continues to build 15,000 new flats a year, stating that land is “hard to find”.