Subcommittee member and DAB vice-chairman Holden Chow Ho-ding said his party would back the bill but also called on authorities to offer stronger incentives so residents would choose flats in Sheung Shui and Yuen Long that would be built under the scheme.

“Even for traditional public housing, sometimes citizens will be reluctant to live far away due to a lack of employment support, as commutes will be too expensive,” he explained.

“We hope the government will provide infrastructure for employment in those areas to encourage people to move there.”

Under the scheme, which is expected to cost HK$26.4 billion overall, authorities have identified eight locations to build 30,000 temporary housing units, including 10,000 at a prime site in Kai Tak, an area which was originally slated to become the city’s second business hub.

The project aims to cut the waiting time for permanent and temporary public flats from six years to 4½ years by 2026-27. The average wait time for public housing is currently 5.6 years.

FTU legislator Bill Tang Ka-piu on Tuesday said his party supported the scheme, arguing it was the only possible solution to alleviate the poor living conditions experienced by some residents.

‘Some temporary public flats could cost more to build than permanent homes’

“Whether the costs could be cheaper is something worth discussing, but since we agree with the overarching principle of the project, we will vote for it, even if the proposal isn’t the cheapest,” he said.

“We don’t want our low-income citizens to suffer in subdivided flats, and there is no other way to do so besides providing large-scale public housing in a short period of time.”

But subcommittee member Doreen Kong Yuk-foon was among legislators who expressed concerns about the project, saying she would not attend Wednesday’s meeting as a show of disapproval over the government’s opaque cost disclosures.

Legislator Michael Tien Puk-sun refused to back the plan as he considered some project locations in Yuen Long and Tuen Mun to be unsuitable for low-income families.

06:47

Living in 15 sq ft: Inside Hong Kong’s coffin homes

Living in 15 sq ft: Inside Hong Kong’s coffin homes

Fellow lawmaker Yang Wing-kit said he would abstain from the vote and accused authorities of failing to respond to appeals from his constituents in Kowloon Central’s Kai Tak, with residents from the area staging a protest on Tuesday.

Finance Committee chairman and lawmaker Ronick Chan Chun-ying, meanwhile, said the government needed to provide a thorough breakdown of how funds would be used once the Public Works Subcommittee had approved the request.

The Finance Committee is expected to meet and discuss the project in March before settling the matter in April, he added.

Acting chief executive Eric Chan Kwok-ki earlier on Tuesday urged the public to back the project. Since last week, residents in Kai Tak and developers have voiced opposition against the scheme, with some worried about a plunge in home prices in the area.

“I can promise everyone that the government will do its best to arrange for supporting traffic measures, so there will be no serious jams or transport service insufficiency,” the city’s No 2 official said before the weekly Executive Council meeting, usually chaired by city leader John Lee Ka-chiu, who is on a week-long Middle East work trip.

“The second issue is that some people are worried housing prices will be affected because of this. We know that everyone will have different considerations, but I hope they can understand that those who are living in subdivided flats or bad environments desperately need the government’s help,” Chan added.

12,000 sign petition as locals push against temporary flats at Hong Kong site

He said the scheme, which offers temporary flats sized between 107 sq ft (10 square metres) and 333 sq ft with basic amenities such as water heaters and ventilation fans, could greatly improve the living conditions of those currently staying in subdivided flats.

The rent for the temporary flats, which ranges from HK$570 to HK$2,650, is also far lower than what is charged for subdivided units.

Chan, who led the Strive and Rise mentorship scheme targeting students from low-income families, argued an improved living environment would also benefit children’s growth.

“Social values cannot be judged by money,” he said. “I am pleading to citizens and other legislative councillors, and hope they can support the government’s light public housing project as much as possible.”

Staging a protest outside the government complex on the same day, 19 Kai Tak resident representatives cited the original plan for the area to serve as a new business hub, expressing fears the transport capacity would not be able to cope with an influx of residents.

Chan stressed the light public housing project would only be temporary. “We will only use [the land] for around five years on average, then we will return it and allow it to be used for its original development purpose.”

Separately, with the border between Hong Kong and mainland China fully reopened, Chan said city authorities hoped to discuss easing the mainland government’s health declaration requirement. Some travellers, especially the elderly, had experienced difficulties in filling in details online.

“We will discuss with the mainland and see if we can improve implementation or even cancel the arrangement,” Chan said. “Of course, the mainland has this need and its own reasons, so we must respect this.”

Additional reporting by Lilian Cheng and Edith Lin