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Following is a question by the Hon Lau Kong-wah and a verbal reply by the Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands, Mr Michael Suen, in the Legislative Council today (November 16):
Question:
At present, only public rental housing ("PRH") households with a living density higher than 5.5 square metres internal floor area ("IFA") per person will be categorised as overcrowded households, and hence eligible to apply for transfer to larger flats. However, the space allocation standard that the authorities currently adopt for new PRH tenants is a minimum area of seven square metres IFA per person. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether it will consider relaxing the qualifying living space density for transfer applications from less than 5.5 square metres IFA per person to seven square metres IFA per person, so as to bring it in line with the density standard adopted for new PRH tenants; if not, the justifications for that;
(b) of the measures to enable more overcrowded households to be transferred to PRH flats in the same estates or districts, such as setting aside a number of flats in some PRH estates soon to be completed for local transfer application by the overcrowded households in the districts concerned; and
(c) whether it will increase the annual transfer quota for overcrowded households?
Reply:
Madam President,
My reply to the three-part question is as follows:
(a) The current minimum space allocation standard for public rental housing is 5.5 m2 per person. Households with a living area below this standard may apply for transfer to larger flats through the territory-wide overcrowding relief exercises, which are held twice or thrice a year. Through the implementation of overcrowding relief and other transfer schemes, the number of overcrowded households has been reduced from over 20 000 in 2000 to around 5 800 at present. The overcrowding conditions in public rental housing have been significantly alleviated. In light of the concerns expressed by tenants with a living density marginally above the benchmark of 5.5 m2 per person, the Housing Authority held a brainstorming session last week to review the existing transfer arrangements with a view to allowing more flexibility in the provision of transfer opportunities for tenants to improve their living space. Our current thinking is to allow households with living space of less than 7 m2 per person to apply for transfer to more spacious flats. The Housing Authority will consider details of the proposal later this month.
(b) Every year, having regard to flat supply, the Housing Authority sets aside 5 000 to 7 000 public rental flats in new and old estates in various districts which are suitable for allocation to larger households through overcrowding relief exercises and other transfer schemes. Nonetheless, practically the Housing Authority could not accommodate all requests from overcrowded households for rehousing within the same estate or district. Since 2001, ten territory-wide overcrowding relief exercises had been conducted. A total of 20 300 flats of various types in different districts were offered for selection by overcrowded households. Of these, about 60% were new flats and 70% were located in urban or extended urban areas. In each of the exercises, the number of flats offered exceeded the number of applicants.
(c) A quota of about 5 000 flats a year was set aside in the past for the implementation of various transfer exercises. The quota would be adjusted flexibly having regard to actual flat supply and demand as well as tenantsˇ¦ needs so as to provide overcrowded households and families aspiring for more spacious flats with more opportunities for transfer. In the past five years, the Housing Authority has earmarked about 36 000 flats in total for these transfer arrangements. We will continue to review the quotas for various transfer exercises and other purposes annually taking into account the flat supply situation.
Ends/Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Issued at HKT 13:18
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