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The following is issued on behalf of the Housing Authority:
The Commissioner for Census and Statistics (C for C&S), Mr Fung Hing-wang, briefed the Subsidised Housing Committee (SHC) of the Housing Authority (HA) at its special meeting today (July 15) on the outcome of the first rent review under the new rent adjustment mechanism for HA's public rental housing (PRH) tenants. According to C for C&S's report, by comparing the indices of the first and second periods, the level of adjustment of PRH rent is +4.68% for the first rent review period.
The new rent adjustment mechanism has come into operation since January 1, 2008 following the passage of the Housing (Amendment) Bill 2007 by the Legislative Council in June 2007. Under the new mechanism, tenants' affordability is the factor used to determine PRH rent. To provide a starting point for the new rent mechanism to operate effectively, the HA has reduced PRH rent by 11.6% starting from August 2007. It provides an objective basis for the HA to determine the adjustment of PRH rent according to the changes in PRH tenants' household income.
Under the new mechanism, a review of the PRH rent will be conducted every two years and the first review is due 2010. Section 16A(7)(b) of the Housing Ordinance specifies that C for C&S shall compute the index, including the change in the income index between the first and second periods. In the first rent review, the first period refers to a period of 12 months expiring on December 31, 2007 and the second period as a period of 12 months expiring on December 31, 2009.
The SHC considered the Commissioner's report and endorsed the outcome of the first rent review exercise under the new rent adjustment mechanism as stipulated in section 16A of the Housing Ordinance, i.e. by comparing the indices of the first and second periods, the level of adjustment in PRH rent is +4.68%.
The SHC will meet again on July 22 to decide whether there should be any mitigation measures and, if so, to consider what measures should be implemented.
Ends/Thursday, July 15, 2010
Issued at HKT 19:00
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