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Following is a question by the Hon Fred Li Wah-ming and a written reply by the Acting Secretary for Transport and Housing, Mr Yau Shing-mu, in the Legislative Council today (December 1):
Question:
Regarding matters relating to the waiting for and allocation of public rental housing (PRH) flats, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the number of applications on PRH Waiting List as at the end of October 2010 and the average waiting time (from the date of registration till the end of October 2010), together with a breakdown by household size (i.e. one person, two persons, three persons, four persons, five persons, six persons, seven persons, eight persons and nine persons or above);
(b) of the respective numbers of family applicants, elderly one-person applicants and non-elderly one-person applicants under the Quota and Points System (QPS) on PRH Waiting List as at the end of October 2010, as well as the total number of these three categories of applicants and the average waiting time (from the date of registration till the end of October 2010);
(c) whether the Housing Department has a performance pledge in respect of the time taken from the receipt of a PRH application to the allocation of a Waiting List Application Number to the applicant; and, in respect of family applicants, elderly one-person applicants and non-elderly one-person applicants under QPS on PRH Waiting List at present, of the average time between application and successful registration;
(d) among the cases of applicants having been allocated PRH flats in 2009-2010, of the respective numbers and percentages of cases involving family applicants, elderly one-person applicants and non-elderly one-person applicants under QPS; and, in respect of these three categories of cases, the average time between registration and successful allocation of PRH flats; in respect of the third category, of their average score points and the average waiting time for the allocation of PRH flats, broken down by the age group of the successful applicants (i.e. under 30, 31 to 40, 41 to 50 and 50 or above);
(e) regarding non-elderly one-person applicants under QPS on PRH Waiting List as at the end of October 2010, of their respective numbers, percentages, average score points and the average waiting time (from the date of registration till the end of October 2010), broken down by the age group of the applicants (i.e. under 30, 31 to 40, 41 to 50 and 50 or above), as well as the respective numbers and percentages of cases in which the applicants are currently residing in PRH flats and private flats;
(f) of the lowest score points for applicants accepting public housing offers under QPS in each of the four districts at present (i.e. Urban, Extended Urban, New Territories and Islands); and the score point of applicants who were registered before October 31, 2010 and have been arranged for investigation for allocation of PRH flats;
(g) how many PRH flats were allocated to non-elderly one-person applicants under QPS by the authorities in 2007-2008 and 2008-2009, and the respective numbers of PRH flats that will be reserved for such applicants in 2011-2012 and 2012-2013; whether they will consider increasing the annual quota so as to shorten the waiting time; and
(h) according to the latest General Household Survey conducted by the Census and Statistics Department, of the number of one-person households residing in rooms inside private permanent housing (including permanent rooms and cubicles), bedspaces and cocklofts, broken down by age groups, and how such numbers compare to the number of non-elderly one-person applicants under QPS on PRH Waiting List; among the one-person households currently residing in rooms inside private housing (including permanent rooms and cubicles), bedspaces and cocklofts, of the number of such households estimated by the authorities to have registered on PRH Waiting List; and whether the authorities will consider requesting non-elderly one-person applicants under QPS to declare their types of accommodation, so that the authorities could consider adopting more relaxed measures to expedite the allocation of PRH flats to this category of applicants?
Reply:
President,
Our response to the questions raised by the Hon Fred Li regarding the application for and allocation of public rental housing (PRH) is as follows:
Data covering the period up to October 2010 is still under preparation, we are only able to furnish the data as at August or September 2010.
(a) There were about 137 000 Waiting List (WL) applications as at the end of September 2010. We do not have any breakdown of the number of applications and average waiting period by household size. It should be noted that at the application stage, the family composition of each application may change with the addition or deletion of family member(s), or that the applicant may change the category of his/her application.
(b) As at the end of September 2010, there were about 75 000 family applications, 5 000 elderly one-person applications, and 57 000 non-elderly one-person applications under the Quota and Points System (QPS) on the WL.
The average waiting period for applications of respective categories is defined as the period between registration and flat offers or end of August 2010, excluding any frozen period during application (such as the applicant not yet fulfilling the residence requirement, the applicant is imprisoned, the applicant has requested to put his/her application on hold pending arrival of family member(s) for family reunion, etc). The average waiting period was 1.5 years, 0.6 year and 2.4 years for family applications, elderly one-person applications and non-elderly one-person applications under QPS respectively.
(c) Our target is to inform the applicant in writing whether he/she has been successfully registered on the WL within three months upon acknowledgement of receipt of his/her application form. At present, we are able to meet the target. We will vet the applicants' eligibility according to the order of receipt of the application forms. Those fulfilling the eligibility criteria will be allocated an application number and issued an acknowledgment letter (blue card) bearing the application number.
(d) Among the applicants rehoused to PRH through the WL in 2009/10 (including Express Flat Allocation Scheme (EFAS)), there were 14 989 family applications (representing 72% of the total number of allocations for WL applicants), 3 214 elderly one-person applications (representing 15% of the total number of allocations for WL applicants) and 2 502 non-elderly one-person applicants under the QPS (representing 12% of the total number of allocations for WL applicants). The average waiting time (AWT) of family applicants and elderly one-person applicants for PRH flats was 2.1 years and 1.1 years respectively. The target in respect of the AWT for PRH flats is not applicable to non-elderly one-person applicants. Under the QPS, the priority of PRH allocation to these applicants is determined according to the points they have. Points are assigned to the applicants on the basis of their age, their waiting time and whether they are PRH tenants. In general, those who are older or have waited for a longer period would have higher points. The higher the number of points they have, the earlier the flat allocation. Among the non-elderly one-person applicants rehoused through the QPS in 2009/10, for those aged 31 to 40, 41 to 50, and 51 or above, their average points were 138, 141 and 147 respectively.
(e) Average points, average waiting period and type of accommodation of non-elderly one-person applicants under QPS on the WL in different age groups are listed in Annex (as at the end of August 2010). Please note that the applicants living in non-PRH flats include those living in private housing or subsidised sale flats.
(f) As the distribution of non-elderly one-person applicants in different Districts is uneven, and the demand and supply of PRH units in different Districts will vary from time to time, minimum points required for flat allocation in different Districts will also change from time to time. As at the end of September 2010, the minimum points obtained by the applicants for the allocation of flats under QPS in the Urban, Extended Urban, the New Territories and the Islands Districts were 139, 145, 136 and 135 respectively. At present, we are arranging applicants who were registered before September 1, 2010 and have obtained 134 points or above by then, to undergo eligibility vetting.
(g) A total of 1 593 and 1 991 PRH flats were allocated to non-elderly one-person applicants under QPS in 2007/08 and 2008/09 respectively. Moreover, in the two financial years, another 767 and 772 non-elderly one-person applicants under QPS were respectively allocated PRH flats through the EFAS. As for 2011/12 and 2012/13, in accordance with existing practice, the quota of flats to be allocated to applicants under QPS will be set at 8% of the number of flats to be allocated to WL applicants and capped at 2 000 flats. The number of flats to be allocated to WL applicants, including the quota under QPS, would be submitted together with the Public Rental Housing Allocation Plan for the approval by the Subsidised Housing Committee under the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA) every year.
(h) According to the General Household Survey conducted by the Census and Statistics Department in the third quarter of 2010, the number of one-person households living in rooms of private housing (including fixed rooms and partitioned cubicles), bedspace apartments and cocklofts is 14 600.
At present, there is a section in the PRH application form for applicants to state whether they are living in a bedspace apartment but the information is provided on a voluntary basis. According to the administrative records of the Housing Department (HD), as at September 2010, about 20 non-elderly one-person applicants under the QPS stated that they were living in a bedspace apartment. We do not have information on the distribution of applicants living in various types of private housing.
The Government is very concerned about low-income persons living in premises like bedspace apartments. The Social Welfare Department (SWD) will consider the special circumstances of the individuals and provide them with suitable assistance, including short-term financial assistance and arrangement for admission to urban hostels for single persons. Besides, eligible persons with imminent housing needs may also apply for earlier rehousing through Compassionate Rehousing on the recommendation of the Social Welfare Department. In 2009/10, over 2 400 applicants were rehoused to PRH through Compassionate Rehousing. HD staff through visits and contacts with non-government organizations reached out to occupants of all the licensed private bedspace apartments. To assist eligible persons to apply for PRH, PRH application forms together with notes on application are distributed to the occupants during these visits. Information on how to apply for PRH and where to make enquiries is also provided. The HA will continue to provide PRH to low-income persons who cannot afford private rental accommodation. In conjunction with the SWD and the Home Affairs Department, the HD will also continue to provide low-income persons with information on and assistance in PRH applications.
Ends/Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Issued at HKT 13:17
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