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The following is issued on behalf of the Housing Authority:
The Housing Authority's (HA) Subsidised Housing Committee (SHC) today (March 14) discussed the findings of the review of Waiting List (WL) income and asset limits for public rental housing (PRH) for 2013/14, and endorsed the limits for respective household sizes with effect from April 1. (see table attached)
While the asset limits are assessed in accordance with the established mechanism, a refined mechanism was approved by the SHC at its last meeting in reviewing the income limits, which takes into account changes in applicants' income, including the impact of the statutory minimum wage, in a timely manner.
"Overall, the WL income and asset limits for 2013/14 will be increased by an average of 6.0 per cent and 4.2 per cent respectively. Take four-person households as an example, the monthly income limit will increase from $20,710 to $22,140 and the asset limit will go up from $418,000 to $436,000," a spokesman for the HA said.
Under the refined mechanism for reviewing WL income limits, an income factor has been introduced. The non-housing cost component is adjusted by either the change in Consumer Price Index (A) (excluding housing cost) or the change in nominal wage index obtained through the Labour Earnings Survey conducted quarterly by the Census and Statistics Department as the income factor, whichever is higher.
When the new income limits come into effect on April 1, it is estimated that some 125 200 non-owner occupied households in the private sector, representing about 29.5 per cent of the total, will be eligible to apply for PRH.
"Under the new income limits, we expect the number of eligible households will increase. We will continue to monitor the number of applications on the WL, with a view to maintaining the average waiting time target for general WL applicants at about three years," the spokesman said.
Ends/Thursday, March 14, 2013
Issued at HKT 17:53
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