“We will deploy a social service team and pay a home visit to every elderly household to offer help,” said Cleresa Wong Pie-yue, the authority’s subsidised housing committee chairwoman.

“It can help ease their concerns about rehousing.”

The first group to be relocated will move to a new housing estate on Wah King Street, a few minutes away from their present home.

The 1,200-flat Wah King Street development is expected to be completed by 2026.

The authority will give special removal allowances to affected tenants, ranging between HK$10,030 (US$1,282) to HK$31,910, depending on the size of the households.

Estate residents also have the option to give up their rental homes and buy subsidised flats before the target clearance date. They will be given priority status for the sought-after properties.

The next subsidised flat sale will be held later this month under the Green Form Subsidised Home Ownership Scheme, designed to target people who are currently public rental housing tenants.

More than 2,300 homes will be sold at 52 per cent of the market price.

Two-person households and individuals affected by the relocation can also receive an allowance of up to HK$95,790 if they decide to move out of rental housing altogether.

But they will not be eligible for any subsidised housing for the next two years.

Hong Kong public housing tenants wait average of 5.8 years to get rental flats

The 23 shops affected by the first stage of the Wah Fu redevelopment will not be relocated to nearby estates, but they will be offered an ex gratia payment equivalent to 15 times their monthly rental payment.

Shop owners can also bid in restricted tenders for stalls in the authority’s market. People who decline to take part will get a lump sum payment of HK$125,000.

Tenants in Wah Fu Estate have been informed well ahead of the redevelopment, which was first floated in 2014 by then chief executive Leung Chun-ying.

Wong added that the government needed a significant amount of time to arrange rehousing options because of the Wah Fu Estate’s massive scale of about 9,100 households.

Sources said other new estates at four nearby sites, which have been designated for rehousing public housing tenants, will be ready between 2027-28 and 2030-31.

They added that the occupation of one project, with a total of 1,800 flats, was delayed from 2028 to 2030 because of technical reasons.

Insiders said the 12,200 public flat redevelopment of the Wah Fu Estate would be completed by 2040-41.

Waiting time for Hong Kong public rental flats climbs to 5.6 years

They added that the government would announce the rehousing schedule for the rest of the Wah Fu Estate residents in line with progress on the new construction.

The sources said the new estates and the redeveloped area will create 21,120 homes, a 130 per cent increase on what was available at the original Wah Fu Estate.

The insiders added that the blocks of flats at Wah Fu Estate were structurally safe and underwent regular maintenance.

Former district councillor Yim Chun-ho, a director of the Wah Fu Hub community centre on the estate, said the redevelopment was long overdue as it had first been mentioned 10 years ago.

The original plan was to rehouse tenants from five blocks in the first stage, but only two were involved in the end, he added.

“Residents will have to wait for some years before moving into new public flats,” he said. “It must have affected their plans.”

Yim added that he hoped the government would help elderly households pack up their belongings for the big move.

The community centre director said he also wanted to see efforts to assist tenants with decorating their new homes, as well as helping establish social connections with their neighbours.