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Following is a transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, at a media session on the release of the Long Term Housing Strategy Consultation Report today (February 17):
The Long Term Housing Strategy Steering Committee has submitted the consultation report to the Government today and the report is now available on the website of the Transport and Housing Bureau.
During the three-month consultation from September to December last year, the (Steering) Committee as well as the Transport and Housing Bureau team have attended some 50 meetings and forums, including a meeting at the LegCo Subcommittee on Long Term Housing Strategy, to meet deputations from the public. Of course, the Steering Committee has also organised six public forums and other activities. And we have also received about 800 written submissions.
The public consultation exercise has proved to be very useful and has provided the public with an opportunity to engage in a focused discussion on our major housing-related issues. I am delighted to see that the public has gradually built up a consensus on several key strategic issues, which would provide a very concrete basis on which the Government can formulate the Long Term Housing Strategy.
Here I would now like to highlight some of the findings of the Steering Committee which are contained in the consultation report.
On the whole, the public concurs with the overall long-term strategic direction proposed by the Steering Committee, i.e. to adopt a supply-led strategy; and public housing should account for a higher proportion of the new housing production. The public also generally accepts 470 000 units as the total public and private housing supply target for the coming 10 years, with public housing to account for at least 60 per cent of the new housing production.
The public-private split of 60:40 proposed by the Steering Committee serves to address the clear community aspiration that the Government must take the lead to increase public housing supply in the current situation in order to overcome the deep-rooted housing problem caused by supply-demand imbalance.
There are also six other key areas where we consider there is general consensus.
The community agrees in general that (1) in resolving the problem of insufficient housing supply, priority should be accorded to the housing needs of the inadequately housed households; (2) more HOS (Home Ownership Scheme) flats should be built to meet the home aspirations of younger generation and first-time home buyers; (3) the average waiting time for general applicants, namely the family and elderly applicants, on the public housing Waiting List should be maintained at about three years; (4) more should be done to ensure the rational use of our precious public rental housing resources; (5) the Government could make use of private sector participation in the provision of subsidised housing; and finally, (6) the Government should continue to streamline the housing development processes and to strengthen manpower resources in the construction industry.
The Steering Committee points out that land and housing development and the sustainability of our environment should not be seen as a zero-sum game. We should strike a reasonable balance between them as echoed by many members of the public during the consultation. Housing development should not be isolated from overall community development. And achieving a better living environment for the public requires us to release and to make the best use of our land resources.
The public is much concerned about the safety and living conditions of subdivided units (SDUs) and considers that the safety of subdivided units' tenants should under no circumstances be compromised. So, there is a clear consensus among the public, the Steering Committee and the Government on this issue.
Many respondents were sceptical of the idea of introducing a licensing or landlord registration system for SDUs on grounds that without a package of complementary measures, this would result in a reduction in the supply of SDUs, which would push up rents. Some were also concerned that the landlords would pass on to tenants the costs of compliance with the licensing or registration requirements.
In light of these concerns and the diverse views expressed in the community, the Steering Committee considers that the Government needs to exercise caution and carefully assess the pros and cons as well as the risks involved.
There is considerable public sentiment in favour of the reinstatement of some form of rental control, including the control on rent and the security of tenure, as a means to assist SDU tenants. Such sentiment reflects growing concern about the mounting financial pressure borne by the grass roots due to the rise in rental levels in recent years. However, there are also other views which are not in favour of rental control.
The Steering Committee is concerned about the consequences of reinstating rental control, including the possibility of an immediate increase in rental levels and a reduction in supply. The Steering Committee therefore cautions the Government to be very careful and that clear community consensus must be secured before any contemplation of introducing rental control.
And as I said earlier, the Government's position on rental control, in other words, our reservation on rental control because of the various consequences, remains unchanged.
There are views calling for the Government to use public revenue to provide rent subsidy. However, there are also concerns that any rent assistance introduced in a tight supply market could be counterproductive, as the subsidy would most likely lead to upward pressure on rental levels, thereby partially or even wholly offsetting the benefits to the tenants by passing the windfall to the landlords.
The Government considers that increasing the supply of public rental housing is the fundamental solution to meet the housing needs of SDU tenants, but we must allow time for the impact to build up.
Now the Government, upon receipt of the report, will of course take full account of the consultation report and other views collected during the consultation in formulating the Long Term Housing Strategy, and we hope to announce the Long Term Housing Strategy later this year.
I would also like to take this opportunity to update the community on the latest situation of the public rental housing Waiting List. As at the end of last year (December last year), there were about 121,100 general applicants on the Waiting List for public rental housing. So, we are talking about household applicants and elderly applicants. For non-elderly one-person applications, under the Quota and Points System, there were about 122,200. Among these non-elderly applicants, those below the age of 35 amounted to 82,200, which is about 67.3 per cent. The average waiting time for general applicants was 2.9 years while the average waiting time for elderly one-person applicants was 1.6 years.
(To be continued.)
Ends/Monday, February 17, 2014
Issued at HKT 18:48
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