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Following is a question by the Hon Albert Ho and a written reply by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, in the Legislative Council today (January 9):
Question:
I have received quite a number of complaints about Long Bin Interim Housing Estate (Long Bin IH) in Yuen Long. For example, an elderly woman approaching 80 years' old and her daughter with disabilities have been allocated a unit in Long Bin IH of a size which can only accommodate a double-deck bunk bed, but neither of them is able to climb up to the upper deck; some residents, who had been arranged to live in Long Bin IH when their former public rental housing (PRH) units were recovered by the Housing Department many years ago on grounds of rent in arrears, have not yet been reallocated PRH units since then; some residents in Long Bin IH have frequently and unreasonably caused nuisances to other residents, which have given rise to a number of conflicts resulting in some residents reporting to the Police for assistance for more than 100 times within nine months; the ceilings of all units in Long Bin IH are made of fiberglass material, which often spalls off and causes skin allergy to some residents; and there are serious problems of mosquitoes and bed bugs. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the number of years for which Long Bin IH has been completed; the number of rental units provided by Long Bin IH at present, the respective numbers of units allocated and vacant among these units, and the longest period of the units being left vacant;
(b) whether the authorities will, on compassionate grounds, allocate a larger unit to the aforesaid household which comprises an elderly person and a person with disabilities;
(c) of the average waiting time at present for the households in Long Bin IH for allocation of PRH units, and the longest waiting time among such households; whether the authorities will exercise discretion to reallocate PRH units to households with arrears of rents many years ago;
(d) of the measures taken by the authorities to protect residents of Long Bin IH from nuisances unreasonably caused by individual residents; of the measures taken by the authorities to address the problems of mosquitoes and bed bugs in Long Bin IH;
(e) of the community services and facilities provided in Long Bin IH at present; whether the authorities have plans to increase such services and facilities;
(f) whether the authorities will consider replacing the ceiling materials of all units in Long Bin IH;
(g) given the comments that it is an unreasonable standard to regard a household in Interim Housing to be overcrowded only if it has a living space of less than 3.4 square metres per person on average, whether the authorities will immediately review this standard; and
(h) whether the authorities have plans to redevelop Long Bin IH into a PRH estate and, if necessary, assign one of the concrete buildings for use as interim housing; if they have, when they will proceed with the plans; if not, of the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
It is the Government's policy to ensure that no one will be rendered homeless as a result of natural disasters, fire, emergencies, as well as government's clearance and enforcement actions. However, should anyone be in need of temporary accommodation, they can, through the referral of the Buildings Department or the Lands Department, be provided with temporary accommodation in the Po Tin Transit Centre at Tuen Mun. If they have lived in the transit centre for three months and passed the "homeless" test, as well as fulfilling the eligibility criteria for public rental housing (PRH), they can be rehoused to Interim Housing (IH) while awaiting PRH allocation through the Waiting List (WL) system.
The Housing Authority (HA)'s Shek Lei IH, Long Bin IH and Po Tin IH provide a total of about 4 600 flats. Although IH is a transient type of accommodation for those in need, the Housing Department (HD) would provide residents with necessary ancillary, transport and social facilities.
Regarding the case of the "elderly woman and her daughter with disabilities" mentioned in the preamble of the question, the HD has been following up and offering assistance as necessary. In fact, their application for PRH was approved late last year and they will soon be offered a PRH unit.
As for the issue of nuisance regarding some residents living in Long Bin IH being frequently disturbed by others, resulting in several confrontations and reporting to the Police for over 100 times within nine months, information provided by the Police revealed that from January 2012 to end of September 2012, there were over 100 cases reported of which most of them were categorised as family disputes and confrontations/quarrels among residents. These cases mainly involved only a few residents. The remaining small number of cases were categorised as theft, common assault and seeking assistance from the Police, etc. During the year of 2012, no residents of Long Bin IH were arrested or prosecuted for causing nuisance to others in the IH.
Our response to the eight-part question raised by the Hon Albert Ho is as follows.
(a) The Long Bin IH was completed in 1999 and it is 13 years old. It provides a total of 840 units. As at end-November 2012, the number of occupied units stood at 570 while offer letters were issued in respect of another 14 units. 256 units remained vacant. Among them, the unit that stood vacant for the longest time had been left so since 2003.
(b) Should there be family applicants for admission to IH with members who are confined to indoor use of wheelchair on a non-temporary basis, require renal dialysis at home, or are suffering from hyperactivity disorder or quadriplegic, the HD will count the families as having one extra member when allocating flats to them on production of valid medical documentary proof. If the elderly can provide medical certificate to prove their need for the allocation of flats of a larger size, the HD will also take this into account subject to the availability of resources.
If the residents do not raise a special allocation request regarding the above circumstances before admission to IH, or their health conditions changed after admission to the flats, they could apply to their respective estate offices for transfer to larger flats on medical grounds. The HD would consider the cases on individual merits.
(c) Households of IH have to apply through the WL for admission to PRH. The time required for PRH allocation depends on the circumstances of individual cases. Generally speaking, the reasons for a longer staying time in IH include the family has yet to fulfill the seven-year residence rule; the rent in arrears of the former PRH flat remains outstanding; the recommended special requirements for allocation have narrowed down the choice of districts, or the applicant is a young non-elderly singleton under the Quota and Point System. The HD has not compiled any statistics on the average waiting time for households of Long Bin IH to be allocated a PRH flat.
Separately, payment of rent is the fundamental responsibility of PRH tenants. For domestic tenancies/occupation licences terminated due to rent/licence fee-in-arrears, the HD will freeze the PRH applications of the tenants/licensees concerned for two years. The HD will take enforcement action against any rent defaulter to safeguard rational allocation of public housing resources. The concerned tenant/licensee has to clear all the outstanding rent/licence fee before a PRH unit would be offered to him/her. Furthermore, if any ex-tenant/licensee has imminent housing need on medical/social ground, they may seek assistance from the Social Welfare Department for Compassionate Rehousing or other assistance.
(d) To provide a peaceful and quiet living environment, the HD has been striving to take the following measures to improve the living condition of Long Bin IH:
(i) Security guards would perform daily patrols on each block and public area. The HD also installed closed-circuit television system (CCTV) at the entrance of the estate in mid 2011, and subsequently installed CCTV in other areas in October 2012 to widen surveillance and improve security;
(ii) Since early 2012, the HD has strengthened the communication and co-operation with the Police. Regular meetings between the HD and the Police have been held to enhance the security of the estate; the Police also increased the frequency of patrols of the estate, and arranged a seminar and home visits for the residents to strengthen co-operation with the public and promote crime prevention; and
(iii) For noise nuisance cases, if misconduct is substantiated under the Marking Scheme for Estate Management Enforcement in Public Housing Estates or according to the terms of occupation licences, the estate office will give advice/warnings, allot demerit point or even terminate the occupation licences concerned. According to our records, complaints about noise nuisance in 2012 were smoothly resolved after advice was given to the households concerned.
Furthermore, the HD has spared no efforts in mosquito control in order to prevent mosquito nuisance arising from the vicinity of Long Bin IH. Apart from spraying mosquito oil on a regular basis and removing stagnant water to eliminate the breeding of mosquitoes, an anti-mosquito machine was installed in early 2012 to enhance the preventive measures. On bedbugs, no case has been reported in 2012. Nevertheless, the estate office has posted up notices to promote the awareness of personal hygiene and maintaining clean environment.
(e) There are two non-government organisations in Long Bin IH, which provide social services including home visits, employment assistance, counselling on family problems/personal emotional problems, domestic support services to the elderly and homework guidance to the youth. On recreational facilities, Long Bin IH currently has a badminton court, a basketball court and a children's playground. To improve the quality of life for the elderly, the HD has planned to install elderly fitness facilities in the estate which are scheduled for completion by end-February 2013.
(f) Approved fabric glass materials with fireproof, heat insulation and sound insulation properties, are used for the ceilings of flats in Long Bin IH, which have been widely used in buildings in Hong Kong. Under normal circumstances, such kind of materials should not spall off easily or cause any health hazard to human being. There was no case of causing skin allergy by the spalls of this material in Long Bin IH in the past. The HD would arrange necessary repairs and maintenances for Long Bin IH, and review the flat conditions to ensure safety of residents.
(g) As mentioned above, IH is a transient type of accommodation offered to those who become homeless because of natural disasters, fire, clearance operations, emergencies, other government actions and so forth, but were not eligible for immediate rehousing to PRH. As such, IH is different from the general PRH designed for permanent accommodation in aspect of living area, design and housing arrangements. The allocation standard of IH is 5.5 square metres internal floor area (IFA) per person. Given IH is a transient accommodation, applicants must at the same time register on the WL to apply for PRH to meet their long term housing needs when they are admitted to IH.
According to the prevailing arrangements, if the households' family circumstances changed after they were admitted to Long Bin IH with IFA of less than 3.4 square metres per person, they can apply for transfer to a larger unit. At present, the HA has no plan to revise the overcrowding relief standard of IH.
(h) The site is currently zoned "Open Space" on the Approved Tong Yan San Tsuen Outline Zoning Plan No. S/YL-TYST/10. The Government will explore the possibility of rezoning the site to "Residential" use. Should it be possible, we will consider developing the site for public housing.
Ends/Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Issued at HKT 13:07
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