New scheme will allow 13,000 subsidised flat owners in Hong Kong to rent spare rooms to needy families
Programme is intended as interim measure to help people waiting for low-rent public housing
As many as 13,000 owners of Housing Society subsidised flats will be allowed to rent their spare rooms to needy families under a new scheme launched on Wednesday.
Wong Kit-loong, the society’s chief executive officer, said: “We hope there will be many landlords taking part in the scheme, but it is too early to comment on the response.”
He added that the society would conduct a review after six months.
Formally named the “Letting Scheme for Subsidised Sale Developments with Premium Unpaid”, the programme covers 21 residential estates, including 11 built under the flat-for-sale scheme and 10 under the Sandwich class housing scheme. The society estimated that about 13,000 flats would be eligible.
Two steps to shorter queues for public housing
The scheme allows those who have owned their subsidised flats for 10 years or more and whose flats have two or more bedrooms to rent out their spare rooms – without having to first settle the land premium – to eligible low-income families that have been in the queue for public rental housing for at least three years.