‘Crackdown on illegal cubicle flats in Hong Kong industrial buildings could leave thousands on streets’
Group that helps underprivileged warns that government’s transit centre has just 400 bed spaces while 10,000 could be affected by safety drive in wake of deadly fire
A government plan to criminalise landlords operating illegal cubicle flats in industrial buildings could leave thousands without homes if authorities fail to lay down a comprehensive resettlement plan, a leading concern group said.
Its warning came after three government departments failed to say how many people were living illegally in the city’s 1,900 industrial buildings, and whether there was a detailed plan for finding them new accommodation, despite the Post’s repeated inquiries.
But in an interview with the Post, the Society for Community Organisation said the government could not afford to rely on existing policy when up to 10,000 residents could be affected, and only 400 bed spaces were available at Po Tin transit centre in Tuen Mun, which takes in displaced residents for three months as a result of natural disasters or government enforcement.
“It’s all talk. Their offer isn’t even a real offer,” Sze Lai-shan, a social worker with the non-profit SoCO, said. “Those who have lived there told me it’s like a refugee camp – cramped, humid and with poor ventilation.”
The organisation based the figures on its frontline work in the past four years in over 10 districts.