Non-elderly singles should get subsidies too because they have longest wait for Hong Kong public housing, SoCO says
- Society for Community Organisation urges government to abolish an age-based points system for single non-elderly public housing applicants
- About 92 per cent of non-elderly singles say they do not receive money from their families
A Hong Kong advocacy group has called for non-elderly singletons living in inadequate housing to be eligible for financial subsidies, as they face the longest wait for public flats and most do not receive support from their families.
Members of the Society for Community Organisation (SoCO) on Sunday urged the government to abolish an age-based points system for non-elderly public housing applicants and prioritise how long they have been living alone.
Sze Lai-shan, the group’s deputy director, noted on Sunday that non-elderly singles faced at least a decade-long wait for a flat.
The average waiting time for a public rental housing flat stands at six years after dropping for the first time in three years, while elderly individual applicants usually receive a home after 4.1 years, according to the Housing Authority.
“We can see that many of [the non-elderly singles] have stayed in such inadequate places for a long time and many of them do not know when they will finally be given public housing,” she said.