Hong Kong urged to ban notorious subdivided flats, with housing alliance proposing road map for phasing them out
- Concern group also proposes reporting system for tenants to lodge complaints with the government about potential fire or health hazards
- Government urged to conduct citywide exercise to determine the number and location of subdivided flats
An advocacy group has called for Hong Kong’s notorious subdivided flats to be outlawed, with a road map to phase them out within the next decade.
The Concerning Grassroots’ Housing Rights Alliance also proposed a reporting system for tenants to lodge complaints with the government about potential fire or health hazards in their subdivided flats, with landlords not allowed to collect rent until the identified dangers were rectified.
Alliance spokesman Yu Man-yin on Sunday also urged Hong Kong’s new leader John Lee Ka-chiu not to overlook the plight of the 127,000 families living in inadequate housing, including subdivided flats.
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“Lee likes to boast about the government’s mentorship scheme to help children living in subdivided flats get out of cross-generational poverty,” Yu said, referring to a new programme introduced by a high-level government task force set up to tackle intergenerational poverty.
“But the crux of the issue is that we should not have people living in such a rundown environment in the first place.”
Yu urged the government to conduct a citywide exercise to determine the number and whereabouts of subdivided flats with those found to be unregistered or have come into existence after the registration period deemed illegal and cleared.
After registration, according to the alliance, the first priority set should be to get rid of subdivided flats with imminent fire hazards, followed by those with structural building problems, and then ones with hygiene issues.