Wait for public housing in Hong Kong getting longer and activists believe it will get worse before it gets better
- Latest figures from city’s Housing Authority puts waiting time at five years, five months, and groups believe it could soon reach six years
- Elderly now waiting nearly three years for housing as struggle to find land for building continues
Hong Kong low-income families must now wait almost 5½ years for a public housing flat – the longest queuing time in 18 years.
The average time for the group before an allocation of a flat was released on Monday, showing a two-month leap to five years and five months from the second quarter of the year.
Meanwhile, the average waiting time for elderly single applicants remained the same, at about two years and nine months, according to figures released by the Housing Authority.
The authority received a total of 150,200 general applications for public rental housing, and about 117,500 applications from single people, as of September.
This comes as the government struggles to find land to build enough housing in one of the world’s most unaffordable cities to buy and rent property.
The Federation of Public Housing Estates, an alliance of 11 community associations representing public housing residents, said the groups were deeply concerned about the rise in the waiting time.
“The government keeps making promises of shortening the allocation time for families, but it has abandoned their words and instead single elderly applicants now have to wait as long as three years which is unacceptable,” it said in a statement.