Hong Kong lawmaker questions need for subsidy payments to entice landlords to take part in temporary housing scheme
- Michael Tien says it is better to simply give the money to tenants so they can rent homes themselves
- But Undersecretary for Transport and Housing Raymond So says subsidy is required to encourage landlords to join the scheme
A Hong Kong lawmaker has expressed misgivings about whether landlords should benefit from a scheme to convert vacant properties into temporary homes for the poor, pressing for more clarity as officials asked to expand the programme to include additional payments to owners.
“I would like to ask whether landlords were going to charge rent all along. If so, why didn’t you tell us in the first place?” he said. “You gave people an impression that the premises were vacant anyway, and they would be simply made available to help others.”
The scheme, first announced by city leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor in 2019, aims to improve the living conditions of low-income families on the waiting list for public rental housing by supplying 15,000 temporary homes by 2023.
The HK$8.3 billion in funding pays for NGOs to convert vacant public or private buildings into temporary housing, or to construct modular housing units on disused land. The funding scope covers construction and renovation works, professional services, administrative work and insurance, with ongoing management of the facilities handled by the NGOs.