Exclusive | Hong Kong subdivided flats to be regulated in phases, higher-risk homes priority: official
- Winnie Ho says proposed regulations will need time to be debated and only enforced when temporary housing is ready for uprooted tenants
But the regulations proposed by a task force would need time for public debate and only be enforced when temporary housing was ready to accommodate uprooted tenants, Secretary for Housing Winnie Ho Wing-yin said in an exclusive interview with the Post.
“No one will be left homeless … When we really need to take action, we will do it in batches or even one building at a time. It will be more manageable,” she said, adding that authorities would prioritise enforcement in districts where such problems were more severe.
“We often think about the issue from a professional perspective, but I remind myself to also consider it from the point of view of residents living in subdivided homes,” said Ho, who is deputy head of the cross-departmental task force that is looking at how subdivided flats can be regulated.
“We can first discuss the overall strategy, then take further action when the public housing and temporary housing are in place,” she added, without giving a specific time frame.