Hong Kong, Guangdong authorities discuss new investigation system to catch out city’s public housing cheats with properties across the border
- Housing minister Winnie Ho says talks under way to set up permanent investigation system, months after crackdown on cheats launched last October
- Government statistics show almost 2,100 public housing properties reclaimed because of misuse and lease violations since last month
Residents living in public housing in Hong Kong might face eviction if they are found to own property in Guangdong province under a new permanent investigation regime being discussed by authorities on both sides of the border, a minister has warned.
Under the current system, authorities in Hong Kong must file requests with individual departments in mainland China to check if city residents hold any assets across the border.
“We are studying issues on how to accelerate the process, expand communication channels and set up a regular check-up mechanism with Guangdong authorities,” Secretary for Housing Winnie Ho Wing-yin said on Sunday.
Last October, the government launched a crackdown on cheats that turned up about 60 city tenant households who also owned private property.
“We have engaged with Guangdong authorities to check land records of public housing tenants if it has been reported to us that there is evidence that they own properties in the mainland province,” Ho told a television programme on Tuesday.
She said the current housing rules required tenants to declare if they owned properties on the mainland or overseas.
The Housing Department said an earlier case involving a false declaration was uncovered with the help of mainland authorities, with the relevant public housing flat taken back on October 31.
Ho’s bureau had followed up on several cases with the Guangdong authorities since last November, she said.
She said city tenant-owned properties found in Guangdong would be considered as assets.
Ho added that people with net assets that exceeded the permitted range, which runs from HK$278,000 (US$35,566) to HK$917,000, would be evicted from public housing.
Hong Kong property management firms asked to expose errant public housing tenants
People who have lived in public housing for less than 10 years were asked to submit declaration forms every two years under the new rules.
Government statistics showed almost 2,100 public housing properties had been reclaimed because of misuse and lease violations by the middle of last month.
Rosanna Law Shuk-pui, the housing permanent secretary, earlier said the authority expected to take back more than 2,200 public housing properties in 2023-24, a new high for recent years.
She added that checks would also be carried out on the declaration of assets held by public housing tenants on the mainland and overseas.
Lawmaker Scott Leung Man-kwong, who sits on the Legislative Council’s housing panel, said he looked forward to the launch of the collaborative mechanism with mainland authorities, as the current practice was both time and resource-consuming.
“Now we need to contact different mainland authorities to check land records,” he said. “It is better that there is a designated department on the mainland that Hong Kong can turn to each time there are reports of suspected ownership problems.”
Hong Kong public housing provider predicts HK$4 billion deficit in 4 years’ time
Ho on Sunday also mentioned that the government was examining ways to increase the proportion of subsidised housing in a bid to boost income for the Housing Authority.
The main public housing provider is expected to record a deficit of HK$1.17 billion for its public housing operations in the 2024-25 financial year if there are no rent adjustments.
The deficit is predicted to balloon to HK$4.28 billion by 2027-28.
But Ho said she expected any adjustments would only be made in the latter part of the second five-year phase of the government’s housing supply programme, when the market has more public housing units to offer.
Authorities find nearly 60 Hong Kong public sector households own private homes
The government earlier said it had identified enough land to build 410,000 public flats, about 100,000 more than its target, with authorities hoping most of the homes would be completed between 2029-30 and 2033-34.
“The goal to cut public housing waiting time to 4.5 years by 2026-27 will stay unchanged,” Ho said. “So the room to adjust subsidised housing proportion would only emerge at the latter part of the second five-year period.”
The proportion of public housing to government-subsidised flats is 7:3 at present.
The average waiting time for a public rented flat is expected to continue to rise in the first half of this year after the latest figure edged up to 5.6 years, the first increase in more than 12 months.
