Retired Hong Kong fireman seeks judicial review after order to vacate living quarters
Retiree seeks judicial review of department's decision to force his family out of home before they find a place to live in public system
A retired fireman is seeking a judicial review of the rules governing housing benefits for Hong Kong firefighters after he was asked to move out of the department's quarters.
Former principal fireman Li Kim-ning said in a legal document filed with the High Court that the Housing Authority refused his application for public housing under the Civil Service Public Housing Quota Scheme.
The 59-year-old joined the Fire Services Department in 1976. He retired in late 2012 and is now living in the department's quarters with his wife and two children, both of whom are students.
Li applied for public housing for four consecutive years starting in 2009, but was turned down each year and told that there was no more room.
Li said the authority only informed him that he would no longer be eligible to apply for housing under the scheme - which was introduced in 1963 to allocate public housing to junior civil servants with lower income and rank, and officers of the disciplined services - when it rejected him for a fourth time.
His application in the financial year 2012 was finally rejected in December last year, and he had been allowed to stay on pending that result. Now, the department wants him out.
The court document also said it was the "consistent and settled" practice that retired officers of the department were allowed to stay in its quarters after retirement, paying preferential rents, until they were allocated public housing.