Converting makeshift coronavirus facilities into transitional housing not cost-effective, Hong Kong’s John Lee says

Chief executive says building homes on edges of country parks not currently under consideration, calling it ‘controversial’ and more difficult to develop

Deputy finance chief says government to use modular integrated construction method to speed up development of transitional flats

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The community isolation facility at Kai Tak , one of several sites maintained by authorities for quarantining coronavirus patients. Photo: Yik Yeung-man

Published: 5:02pm, 23 Oct 2022Updated: 11:03pm, 23 Oct 2022

Converting makeshift facilities built during Hong Kong’s fifth coronavirus wave into transitional flats is not “cost-effective”, the city’s leader has said, citing the vast amount of refurbishment work required.

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu on Sunday also said his administration was not currently considering building homes on the edges of country parks, calling it “controversial” and unattractive given the easier development available using other sources of land he proposed during his maiden policy address last week.

Among the suggestions to boost the overall production of homes by 50 per cent during his five-year term, Lee on Wednesday pushed for the construction of about 30,000 new “light” public housing flats and the identification of “green belt” sites to increase land supply.

But the city’s community isolation units, which were built to help contain the spread of Covid-19 and include 10,000 spaces at sites in Penny’s Bay and Kai Tak, were not included as a source of housing in the blueprint, despite repeated calls from several lawmakers to transform them into transitional flats.

“These facilities are temporary, a lot of work would be involved if they were to be upgraded for long-term living, and this means they might not be cost-effective,” Lee said during a pre-recorded television interview that aired on Sunday.

“For example, the ceiling of some of these units would need to be refurbished regularly … But if a family lives there, we cannot regularly go there and refurbish their ceiling.”

The chief executive also explained that many community isolation units were not equipped with their own bathrooms, making them unsuitable for conversion into long-term housing.