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The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Housing Authority:
The Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA) has decided to clear the Long Bin Interim Housing (IH) estate in Yuen Long to make way for public housing development. The HA's Commercial Properties Committee and Subsidised Housing Committee (SHC) today (January 9) approved rehousing arrangements for the 510 affected households according to their individual eligibility.
The Long Bin IH estate was built in 1999 using a proprietary prefabricated building system. It consists of eight low-rise blocks with 840 units, two welfare premises and a plant nursery.
"The target clearance date for Long Bin IH is January 2016. A notification period of 24 months is provided to give affected households reasonable notification and to allow time for the rehousing and associated arrangements," a spokesman for the HA said.
The majority of the households will be offered public rental housing (PRH) flats through their existing Waiting List applications before the clearance date, subject to them fulfilling the necessary rehousing criteria. Households still on the Waiting List will be rehoused to Po Tin IH. At present, there are some 30 households in Long Bin IH who fail to meet the Comprehensive Means Test. They will have to move out before the clearance date.
All eligible households will be granted an ex-gratia Domestic Removal Allowance, ranging from $4,209 to $16,169 depending on the household size, to assist them to meet their removal expenses. One-person and two-person eligible households may also opt to receive Singleton/Doubleton Allowance of $40,560 and $50,230 respectively in lieu of rehousing to a PRH flat.
Households who are eligible for PRH may also be accorded Green Form status and priority in the upcoming sales exercise of the Home Ownership Scheme, subject to corresponding approval from SHC to be given before the announcement of the sales.
"We will work closely with local voluntary agencies and NGOs to provide necessary support and social services to help needy households with their move," the HA spokesman said.
The re-provision needs of the two welfare facilities will be assessed by the Social Welfare Department and the HA will assist tenants of those facilities to seek suitable accommodations, subject to availability of resources.
The IH at Po Tin Estate will become the sole IH in the New Territories upon clearance of Long Bin IH. A number of the Po Tin Estate units now in use as PRH flats will be recovered through voluntary transfer exercises for use as IH to meet future demand.
Ends/Thursday, January 9, 2014
Issued at HKT 18:01
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