Hong Kong tenants’ group demands government return Fo Tan flats being used as Covid-19 quarantine facilities

Coalition of tenants allocated flats at Chun Yeung Estate in Fo Tan wants flats returned by July and rent relief for a year

Some say one-time help of HK$6,000 is not enough, while others say sending their children to a school in another district poses a headache

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The Chun Yeung Estate in Fo Tan is being used as a quarantine centre amid the coronavirus pandemic. Photo: Sam Tsang

Published: 11:48pm, 15 Jun 2020Updated: 12:41am, 16 Jun 2020

A coalition formed by tenants of a new Hong Kong public housing estate currently used by the government as a Covid-19 quarantine camp has demanded that flats be returned to them next month and rents waived for a year.

Around 20 members of the alliance filed a complaint at the Legislative Council on Monday, accusing the government of upending their lives as they are unable to move into the flats at Chun Yeung Estate in Fo Tan, Sha Tin, that were allocated to them months ago.

They wanted the government to return the flats to them in July and waive their rent for a year as compensation for the extra expenses incurred during the extended wait for their new homes.

The newly built housing estate was turned into a makeshift quarantine centre in mid-February to accommodate travellers returning from high-risk countries and areas for two weeks amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The five-block estate with 4,800 flats makes up more than one-third of the targeted 13,000 public flats to be supplied in the 2019-20 financial year.

A total of 1,739 flats at the estate have been turned into quarantine units, accounting for 80 per cent of the government’s virus-related isolation facilities. Of them, 481 had been housing 1,025 people as of 9am on Monday, according to the Centre for Health Protection.