Monthly rent for a 140 sq ft flat under the scheme will start at HK$780, while the largest home measuring 330 sq ft that could fit up to five occupants will cost up to HK$2,650. Secretary for Housing Winnie Ho Wing-yin said it would result in substantial savings for those renting a subdivided flat, which had a median rent of HK$5,000.

Ho described the HK$26.4 billion scheme as an investment in the future that would free those in need of housing from the harsh living conditions of subdivided flats.

“Light public housing is not a simple public works project. It will change the fate of a group of people. It provides flats and a good living environment so that they can feel at ease and have their own space to live and study in,” she said.

Unlike the city’s long-standing rental housing scheme, light public housing is made up of buildings that will be used for five or more years to provide a bridging option for those waiting for a permanent subsidised home.

Ho emphasised that all eight sites under the project would retain their planned uses after being cleared of the buildings for the scheme.

The 5.7 hectare (14 acre) site in Kai Tak, for instance, has been reserved for commercial use and is surrounded by upscale residential developments. Lawmakers and real estate developers have expressed concerns the new flats might undermine Kai Tak’s position as an emerging business district.

But Ho noted that the idle plot was only partly being used for bus parking at the moment. “Instead of parking vehicles, let it serve a more socially meaningful purpose,” she said.

Each flat will come with a bathroom and kitchen fittings, including a water heater, but air conditioners will not be provided.

30,000 bigger temporary flats in Hong Kong promised to ease housing problems

Ho acknowledged that the decision to exclude air conditioners from the flats accounted for about a fifth of the entire scheme’s HK$1 billion cost reduction, which was made to address lawmakers’ concerns over the original HK$27.4 billion price for the short-term housing initiative.

Proposed by Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu in his maiden policy address last year, the scheme is only available to current public housing applicants who have spent more than three years waiting for a permanent home.

By the end of last September, about 234,600 applicants were on the waiting list for public flats, with an average waiting time of 5.6 years, according to the Housing Authority.

Families will have priority in securing the temporary homes, though only about 30 per cent of the flats are designed for households of more than two people.

Occupants will eventually be offered a regular public housing flat. During a radio interview earlier on Monday, Ho said households which rejected the offer three times would be dropped from the waiting list and no longer qualify for living in the temporary flats.

The government will seek at least HK$14.9 billion in its first funding request to the Legislative Council.

Legco housing panel deputy chairman Leung Man-kwong, who toured a mock-up flat on Monday, said he was still concerned about whether the more remote locations would be appealing to residents, despite the authorities’ promise to add dedicated minibus and bus services.

Leung also urged authorities to build more of the larger flats and adopt a design that could combine two smaller homes into one big one to meet the needs of larger families.