Opinion | Hong Kong property agent advertises ‘helper’s shed’ in the garden of a village house

  • Internet users argued that putting a domestic helper in a shed demonstrated the inequality of migrant workers’ living conditions in city
  • For Hongkongers, there are cage homes and HK$5 million-plus ‘coffin homes’ for desperate first-time buyers

A listing for a Hong Kong property, complete with “maid’s shed”, has caused debate about housing in the city. Photo: Shutterstock

It all kicked off on a Facebook page recently when a property agent in Sai Kung, in Hong Kong’s New Territories, advertised a village house for a monthly rent of HK$44,000 (US$5,670) with a “helper’s shed” in the garden.

Scandalised readers called the use of language offensive and inappropriate, saying the notion of putting a domestic helper in a shed demonstrated the brutal inequality of living conditions for migrant workers in Asia’s World City.

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