Lawyers for man barred from living with his husband in subsidised Hong Kong housing describe policy as ‘blatantly discriminatory’
- Henry Li lived in fear of eviction upon learning of policy since his now-deceased husband, Edgar Ng, bought flat for HK$5.45 million in 2018, High Court hears
- Same-sex marriage is generally not recognised in Hong Kong, apart from some very specific policies relating to tax and visas, for example
Lawyers for a man barred from living with his husband in subsidised housing have described the Hong Kong government’s policy on authorised occupants as “blatantly discriminatory” and said the couple suffered a “very real sense of injustice”.
Henry Li Yik-ho also lived in fear of eviction from a Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) flat upon learning the policy since his now-deceased husband, Edgar Ng Hon-lam, bought it for HK$5.45 million ($US701,781) in 2018, Jin Pao SC told the High Court on Monday.
The application for judicial review is one of three legal challenges mounted by the couple since they tied the knot in London in 2017. Same-sex marriage is generally not recognised in Hong Kong, apart from some very specific policies relating to tax and visas, for example.
The High Court heard the Housing Authority’s policy on adding occupants to an HOS flat only recognised nine categories of familial relationships, which included husband and wife but only in the sense of between a man and woman.
Transferring ownership of the flat to anyone outside the listed categories would incur a financial premium, which in this case would have amounted to more than HK$2 million based on the purchase price.