The wait drags on: Hong Kong families lose transitional housing, but have no public rental flats to move into

For Hong Kong resident May*, misery was having to move back into a tiny subdivided space after three years of relative comfort in a temporary home. May, 53, and her 21-year-old son were happy with the refurbished 150 sq ft unit they moved into in 2018 at a transitional housing project in Sai Wan. Unlike their previous rooftop space in Sham Shui Po, it had a bigger toilet with better ventilation and room for the laundry. But they had to move out last year when their three-year lease ended and they had not yet been allocated a public rental flat despite waiting six years. The mother and son found themselves back in a subdivided space in Sai Wan. It is so small, they have to enter the toilet sideways. Yet it cost more. Instead of the HK$3,600 (US$460) she paid for rent and utilities for the transitional house, May said she now had to fork out HK$4,500 on rent alone, more than two-thirds of her income as a part-time security guard and cleaner. “It is miserable to move backwards,” she said. “It would have been best if we could have stayed until we got a public rental flat.” ‘Transitional flats play pivotal role in easing Hong Kong’s housing crunch’ Government sources told the Post that Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu would announce a significant increase in the number of temporary homes when he delivered his first policy address on Wednesday. Transitional housing is a 2018 government initiative to help low-income residents living in poor conditions, while waiting an average of six years for public housing. Welfare groups teamed up with builders to design, construct and operate container homes as transitional housing on temporary sites offered by government departments and developers. The government had identified land for more than 20,000 temporary homes, with about 5,400 already occupied by families, by August this year. A survey by the Hong Kong Council of Social Service, which ran the first project that ended last month, Nam Cheong 220 in Sham Shui Po, found only a quarter of its residents moved to a public rental flat by the time their lease ended. Families who moved into the project from August 2020 could only stay about two years as the site had to be returned to owner Henderson Land Development this month. Of the 94 families, only 24 moved into public rental flats, the council said. There were 11 families who returned to the private rental market as they wanted to stay in Sham Shui Po, including five who moved into subdivided spaces. Among about 60 families who went to other transitional housing projects were single mother Joanne*, 43, and her two teenage children. “I have been waiting for public rental housing for seven years and I have no idea when it will be our turn,” said Joanne, who earns HK$17,000 a month looking after people with disabilities at a care centre. “I worry that we still won’t have a flat when our new temporary lease ends.” The council’s business director, Anthony Wong Kin-wai, said the situation showed the urgent need for more temporary housing in Hong Kong. “With more units, current tenants can stay until they get their public flats, and people in subdivided units can also have a place and improve their living conditions,” he said. Political parties and housing concern groups have called for building up to 50,000 temporary homes in the run-up to Lee’s policy address. Housing minister Winnie Ho Wing-yin has said the government was reviewing the policy and hoped to identify sites where families in temporary units could stay longer. Vincent Ho Kui-yip, a past president of the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors, said the government could consider coordinating the construction of temporary housing, instead of leaving it largely to welfare groups. “Building houses is not the strength of non-governmental organisations. It will be better if they just focus on operating the projects and providing social services,” he said. Hong Kong housing chief vows to locate more land for transitional homes He also suggested building higher blocks of up to eight levels to increase the supply, and streamlining procedures to shorten the preparation and construction time from two years to 18 months or less. Real estate and construction specialist Professor Chau Kwong-wing of the University of Hong Kong said it would be best if the government focused on building permanent homes. “Transitional housing is just a transitional policy. We do not need much temporary housing in the long run when people can be housed in permanent housing,” he said. “If there is an enormous supply of transitional housing, the government may end up relying on that and slow down public flat construction.” * Interviewees’ names changed upon request.