A fair share for all? Hong Kong’s poorest are in danger of sinking even further

As an international financial centre Hong Kong prides itself on providing a fair and just business environment, but it is drastically unequal in its distribution of resources and incomes. Where there is a high proportion of elderly people or immigrants, median incomes are less than half the levels enjoyed in the most affluent areas. This is reflected by the poverty rate of the 18 districts across the city. The overall poverty rate stands at 14.3 per cent, which equates to 970,000 people. A tale of two cities and two incomes in Hong Kong Sham Shui Po has the highest level at 17 per cent (or 62,600 people), according to the government’s Hong Kong Poverty Situation Report 2015, released last October. Sai Kung in the New Territories, the “back garden of Hong Kong”, was rated as the richest district, with a poverty rate of just 9.7 per cent. The statistics are based on the official poverty line, which is drawn at half the median household income. In 2015 the median monthly income of a one-person household was HK$3,800, for a two-person household it was HK$8,800 and for a three-person household it was HK$14,000. In a government census report conducted the same year, Wan Chai was identified as the richest district, with a median monthly household income of HK$40,000 – more than double that of the poorest, Sham Shui Po (HK$19,000). Central and Western district was the second-richest with a median income of HK$35,000, followed by Sai Kung on HK$33,000. “I don’t want people to label Sham Shui Po, but from what I have seen the poverty situation here hasn’t improved much in the past four years,” Ambrose Cheung Wing-sum, chairman of Sham Shui Po District Council, said. Cheung’s remarks are backed by statistics. Sham Shui Po, long regarded as the city’s poorest district, is getting even poorer. Two surveys conducted by the same non-government organisation suggested that the mainly working-class neighbourhood, home to 400,000 people, confirm it has fallen on even harder times. In 2012 the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) polled 420 residents living in Sham Shui Po, which showed there was an average of 2.19 people living in subdivided flats. The figure increased to 2.8 in 2016, when the sample size was increased only slightly to 430. Subdivided flat tenants were also paying more rent than before. In 2012 over half of those surveyed were paying less than HK$1,500. Four years later, less than 9.5 per cent could find a home for this much. The percentage of respondents paying between HK$4,500 and HK$6,000 for slightly larger spaces had increased dramatically – from 0.5 per cent in 2012 to 20.6 per cent. Living conditions in Hong Kong’s poorest district have got worse in last four years “One way to tackle the housing problem could be by rezoning industrial buildings to residential,” Cheung said. “Some may say they are too dangerous to live in, and the government would need to make sure they are up to proper safety standards.” Another solution, according to Cheung, was to turn vacant public housing flats waiting to be renewed into interim housing for tenants in subdivided accommodation. Professor Paul Yip Siu-fai of the University of Hong Kong’s Faculty of Social Science said poorer districts were usually home to ageing or elderly populations and immigrants. And while senior citizens could no longer work, immigrants often found it difficult to get jobs because of cultural differences. “Poverty alleviation measures such as food banks are only a short-term solution and the government should focus more on how to create jobs for the unemployed in these neglected districts,” Yip said. The plight of near-poverty Hong Kong households needs to be addressed within the next five years In 2013 the Community Development Enhance Fund, a charity, started receiving private donations and launched a series of community poverty alleviation projects. One of them – Sharing Kitchen – recruits people from low-income families and allows them to work at six partner restaurants during non-peak hours in order to earn a living. Yip said this was an example the community and the government could learn from in empowering lower-income groups. “At the same time, we have to make sure the jobs we create can help improve their overall living standards. That’s why having a minimum wage is so important.” From May 1 the statutory minimum wage will be raised from HK$32.5 per hour to HK$34.5, though Yip felt there was still room for improvement. It’s all about how to develop new initiatives and make good use of human capital Professor Paul Yip Siu-fai, University of Hong Kong “The government has launched many one-off relief measures over the past few years and all those cost money. Sometimes we need to have handouts and sweeteners to alleviate the problem, but in the long run we need to be very focused on tackling one issue at a time if we really want to resolve the poverty problem,” Yip said. “We should not create more dependence. To improve their upward mobility is important. It’s all about how to develop new initiatives and make good use of human capital in the community.” Access to health care is another problem for the poor. In two surveys by the YWCA, in 2012 and 2016, the long waiting lists for services in public hospitals was ranked as the eighth biggest problem people faced in daily life. There are 42 public hospitals in Hong Kong, and only one of them is in Sham Shui Po. But Civic Party lawmaker Kwok Ka-ki, a private urologist, said the working class district faced a bigger problem, as residents sometimes used hospitals in nearby Yau Tsim Mong district. “Sham Shui Po is lacking something more community-based, such as general outpatient clinics, elderly heath centres and women’s health clinics,” Kwok said. “And residents there don’t have that much money to visit private clinics.” Education and training the key to improving quality of life and combating poverty in Hong Kong Concern groups have called on the government to extend its health care voucher scheme from the elderly to lower-income families to allow them to use private primary care services. Under the voucher scheme, people aged 70 or above are provided with annual vouchers worth HK$2,000 to use in private care and take the strain off the public health sector. Kwok said he supported the idea but it was rarely discussed in the Legislative Council. District council chairman Cheung expected the population of Sham Shui Po to grow by 25 per cent in the next four years because of the public and private housing projects, which meant the poverty situation could worsen. “I think it’s unfair when many in society thrive on the city’s economic growth while those living in poverty are left behind and not allowed to share even some of these economic benefits. It just doesn’t make sense at all,” he said.