*******************************************************
The following is issued on behalf of the Housing Authority:
The Housing Authority's (HA) Subsidised Housing Committee (SHC) today (March 15) discussed the findings of the review of Waiting List (WL) income and asset limits for public rental housing (PRH) for 2011/12, and endorsed the limits for respective household sizes as set out in the table attached.
"Based on the established mechanism, the WL income limits are derived using a 'household expenditure' approach consisting of housing costs and non-housing costs, plus a 5% 'contingency provision'. Taking into account the uncertainties arising from possible changes in the economic environment including fluctuations in price levels and with the implementation of the statutory minimum wage (SMW) on May 1, the SHC agreed that on top of the contingency provision of 5% of the household expenditure, to add an extra 10% of household expenditure as buffer," the HA spokesman said.
With the changes in the key parameters under the established methodology, the contingency provision of 5% of the household expenditure and the extra provision of 10% of the household expenditure as buffer, the proposed WL income and asset limits for 2011/12 will be increased by an average of 15.6% and 3.3% respectively. Take four-person households as an example, the monthly income limit will increase from $16,070 to $18,560 and the asset limit will go up from $384,000 to $397,000.
"We consider our well-established 'expenditure-based' and 'household-based' mechanism an objective measurement of affordability and hence sustainable, and it should continue to be used. However, at the same time we acknowledge that a certain lead time is required for it to reflect changes in the expenditure pattern following implementation of SMW. We consider the extra provision can provide a bigger buffer for low income families when applying for PRH," explained the spokesman.
When the relaxed limits come into effect on April 1, some 131,100 non-owner occupied households in the private sector, representing about one-third of the total, are estimated to be eligible for applying for PRH.
"Under the relaxed limits, we expect the number of eligible households will increase. Nonetheless, for general WL applications, flat allocations are made in accordance with the order the applicants are registered on the WL. General applicants already registered on the WL would not be affected by subsequent applicants. We will also keep in view the demand situation, and roll forward and suitably adjust the Public Housing Construction Programme to maintain the target of average waiting time at about three years", he said.
Ends/Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Issued at HKT 18:32
NNNN
