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Following is a transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, in a media stand-up session after chairing the seventh meeting of the Long Term Housing Strategy Steering Committee this afternoon (May 27):
Secretary for Transport and Housing: At the Long Term Housing Strategy Steering Committee meeting this afternoon, which was a rather lengthy meeting, it took us four hours, members considered several items. First, we received the report from Policy 21 on the survey on sub-divided units (SDUs). We noted the findings of the survey and decided that in our formulation of recommendations, we will make reference to those findings. Secondly, we also considered a very preliminary assessment model to forecast the housing demand, housing needs for the coming 10 years. Of course, this is a very preliminary discussion, so we have yet to consider the figures and to refine our model further at future meetings. Thirdly, we received a report, the final report from the Polytechnic University on focus group studies. As I reported to the media after the last meeting, the focus group studies enable us to understand the views of various stakeholder groups, including members of the general public from different backgrounds. Finally, we have also considered a paper on housing needs of specific groups. We have invited the Labour and Welfare Bureau to give a very short presentation on elderly services because some of our members are very concerned about the ageing society in Hong Kong and to what extent their needs are being addressed at the community level.
On the SDU studies, let me very briefly highlight the key findings. The studies took place from January to April this year and the survey organisation, namely Policy 21, has noted all the domestic and composite buildings of 25 years and above. Among the 18,600 such buildings, they have taken a 10 per cent sample, namely 1, 860 for the purpose of interviews, and based on the findings of the interviews, the organisation estimates that there are around 18,800 such building units with SDU, and the average number of SDUs within each building unit is 3.6. Based on the assessment, Policy 21 considers that altogether, there are 66, 900 SDUs in Hong Kong involving 171,300 residents. Of course this is just an estimate, and based on 95 per cent confidence interval, the range of number of SDUs would be from 53, 000 to 80,800. Our observation is that among the 66,900 SDUs estimated, about 30,600 such units do not have essential facilities such as kitchen facilities, independent toilet and water supply. Another observation is that SDUs tend to be more common among more aged buildings. So that is the gist of the findings. Of course we would make reference to the findings in our further consideration of housing needs in Hong Kong and we will make use of the findings in formulating our recommendations.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Monday, May 27, 2013
Issued at HKT 23:58
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