Hong Kong leader back-pedals on suggestion for Housing Authority to pay for subsidies, urges wider adoption of new building technique

Carrie Lam had previously suggested the authority cover cash handouts paid to families on the years-long waiting list for public flats

The suggestion had drawn fire from the authority, with Lam insisting on Tuesday it was merely meant to ‘spark discussion’

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The city’s leader has called on the Housing Authority to speed up the construction of public flats. Photo: Felix Wong

Published: 4:30pm, 12 Oct 2021Updated: 11:09pm, 12 Oct 2021

Hong Kong’s leader has back-pedalled on a suggestion that the city’s main provider of public housing pay cash handouts to those on its years-long waiting list, but kept up pressure on the body to accelerate the delivery of new homes by taking advantage of prefabricated materials.

Speaking at her weekly press briefing on Tuesday, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor maintained her previous remarks proposing the Housing Authority take over responsibility for making support payments to would-be tenants was merely meant to “spark discussion”.

“This was just an interesting idea. If it was a suggestion proposed by the government, it would have been written in the policy address,” she said. “It is an exaggeration of some media outlets to say that the chief executive intended to ‘punish’ or ‘shift blame’ onto the Housing Authority.”

The city leader came under fire from the authority after floating the suggestion, which she said was aimed at “establishing a spirit of accountability” in the statutory body.

In a televised interview on Sunday, Lam was asked whether there were plans to extend an existing pilot scheme involving cash support payments for applicants who had been waiting for public housing for more than three years – longer than the maximum period pledged by the authority.

“I have a very interesting idea,” she replied. “This is the first time I’ve shared it; let me tell you.”

She added: “The cash subsidies are currently paid by the government, but why shouldn’t they be [paid by] the Housing Authority? If you build the estates slowly, you will have to pay [more].