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The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Housing Authority:
The Housing Authority (HA)'s Subsidised Housing Committee (SHC) today (June 13) approved the allocation plan for 2013/14 (see table), which will provide 33 600 public rental housing (PRH) flats for eligible families, out of which 24 020 flats will go to Waiting List (WL) applicants.
The 33 600 flats for allocation comprise 21 600 new flats and 12 000 refurbished flats.
"As in the past few years, the WL category will continue to be given the biggest share of the allocation, constituting 71.5 per cent of the year's provision. The remaining flats will be allocated to applicants under various categories," a spokesman for the HA said.
A quota of 1 920 flats will be allowed for allocating to non-elderly one-person WL applicants through the Quota and Points System for 2013/14 in accordance with the principle previously set by the SHC.
A total of 480 flats will be reserved to cater for rehousing needs generated by various clearance programmes implemented by the Government and the Urban Renewal Authority.
"Taking into account the demand arising from the remaining tenants affected by the clearance of the four blocks in Phases 7 and 8 of Pak Tin Estate, 100 flats are set aside under the Estate Clearance and Major Repairs Programme.
"For planning purposes, 2 000 flats will be set aside for the Compassionate Rehousing category in 2013/14. Any extra demand recommended by the Social Welfare Department will be met as necessary with existing resources," the spokesman said.
A total of 6 000 flats are reserved for various transfer schemes for existing PRH tenants to meet their housing needs. Among them, 1 500 flats are set aside for overcrowding relief and living space improvement needs.
"Given the relatively stringent supply of flats for larger household sizes, 1 000 flats will be used to cater for cases of under-occupation transfer," the spokesman said, adding that the larger flats thus recovered can be used to help relieve the buoyant demand from households with four or more persons.
"The Housing Department will flexibly deploy this total of 6 000 flats under all the transfer sub-categories in order to maximise the use of resources," the spokesman said.
While the anticipated supply of PRH flats and demand for PRH under the various rehousing categories in the year ahead had been taken into account in the course of drawing up the allocation plan, the spokesman said that the HA would closely monitor any change in circumstances and make every effort to maintain the average waiting time of general applicants in the WL at around three years.
Ends/Thursday, June 13, 2013
Issued at HKT 19:53
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