Coronavirus: four thousand low-income families have to wait longer to get public housing flats as government converts Fo Tan estate into quarantine centre
- Chun Yeung Estate in Fo Tan, which has 4,800 flats, will be used as Hong Kong’s fifth quarantine site as four other facilities are already full
- Families may have to wait for three to six months to move in, until the outbreak is over and sanitisation is carried out, Housing Authority adviser says
Four thousand low-income families in Hong Kong who have been assured flats in a public housing estate will have to wait longer, as the residential units allocated to them have been chosen as the city’s next makeshift quarantine facility to curb the coronavirus outbreak.
When Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor announced last week that the newly built Chun Yeung Estate in Fo Tan would be used as the city’s fifth quarantine site, it was not yet known that most of its 4,800 rental flats had actually been allocated to people on the waiting list.
The decision will further delay the supply of residential units in the city plagued by a public housing shortage, a government adviser says.
A source from the Department of Health said the site was ready for use as a quarantine facility. Some 269 quarantine places will be provided in the first phase, which may be extended to 1,000 places maximum.
Photos provided by district councillor Ken Mak Tsz-kin showed various equipment required for the facility – including fans, chairs, tables, and beds – had moved into the flats. The block 1 of Chun Yat House will be the first block in use.
The move has drawn criticism, as the Housing Department confirmed on Thursday that it had allocated 4,000 flats of the estate last December.