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Following is a transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Transport and Housing cum Chairman of the Long Term Housing Strategy Steering Committee, Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, at a media session after the Long Term Housing Strategy Steering Committee meeting today (January 11):
Secretary for Transport and Housing: Today we have completed the discussion within the Steering Committee on the long term housing strategy on the consultation report. This consultation report will be submitted to the Government by mid-February. And of course the Government will then need to follow up on the consultation report. At today's meeting, the Steering Committee reaffirms the direction in terms of the long term housing strategy for Hong Kong. Of course we recognise the urgency for the Government to do something about the housing problem. Based on the feedback within the three-month consultation period, we recognise that there is consensus within the community on the Government adopting a supply-led strategy. There is also support for the Government to take a more proactive role in terms of housing supply and the recommendation that within the new supply, public housing should take up a larger proportion. And the recommended public-private split is 60 to 40. In addition to this direction, it is also recognised that we need to supply more subsidised units for sale, namely the Home Ownership Scheme flats and other forms of subsidised housing. So these are the general directions and we will include these views within the consultation report. We will also apprise the feedback received on other major issues in relation to housing, particularly the issue of sub-divided units, those households who are inadequately housed, the question of rent control and other pertinent issues. There are also some discussions on the supply of land for housing. So there will be some observations made in the consultation report. But since the report will take a bit of time to be published, so I will rather prefer reserve the final comments on the consultation report until it is officially published.
Reporter: (sub-divided housing)
Secretary for Transport and Housing: I cannot release the final recommendation or decision of the Steering Committee today because the report will be published next month, we hope. But in the original consultation paper, it was recommended that the feasibility of licensing or landlord registration for sub-divided units should be considered. During the three-month consultation period, we have heard diverse views on this recommendation from various quarters. Of course as some of you have noted there are certain reservations about licensing or registration. So in the consultation report, we will faithfully reflect those views, there is a broad range of views. There will also be recommendations on how to take the matter forward.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Saturday, January 11, 2014
Issued at HKT 20:32
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