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LCQ6: Departmental quarters for married disciplined services staff
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     Following is a question by the Dr Hon Cheng Chung-tai and a written reply by the Acting Secretary for Security, Mr John Lee, in the Legislative Council today (April 12): 

Question: 

     It is an established government policy to provide departmental quarters (DQ) for married disciplined services staff, subject to the availability of resources. Some married disciplined services staff members have indicated that they have waited for a long time but are not yet allocated a DQ unit. One of the causes for this situation is that some retired disciplined services staff members continue to occupy DQ units for a long time after retirement. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(1) of the respective current numbers of staff members currently waiting for allocation of DQ units in various disciplined services as well as the respective median waiting times;

(2) of the current number of retired disciplined services staff members who have not moved out from DQ units after deadlines; and

(3) whether various disciplined services have put in place any penalty mechanism to facilitate the prompt return of DQ units by retirees; if so, of the respective numbers of persons punished under such mechanisms in the past three years?

Reply:

President,

(1) As at April 1, 2017, there were 7 260 married disciplined services staff who were eligible for but not allocated departmental quarters. Counting from the date of attaining eligibility, the average waiting time for officers quarters is around one to three years, while the average waiting time for rank and file quarters is around four to seven years.  

(2) and (3) According to the Government's Accommodation Regulations (AR), a disciplined services officer's eligibility for quarters ceases on commencement of his or her pre-resignation or pre-retirement leave, and the officer is allowed two months from the effective date to vacate his or her quarters. If the officer has applied for a public rental housing (PRH) flat under the Civil Service Public Housing Quota (CSPHQ), the two-month grace period will run from the date of signing of tenancy agreement of the PRH flat, or the date on which all the outstanding CSPHQ applications are confirmed unsuccessful and therefore cancelled. If an officer fails to vacate his or her quarters by the grace period, the Head of Department (HoD) may, upon reviewing the justifications provided by the officer, exercise discretion to extend the grace period for up to one month. 

     If at the end of the extended grace period, the officer is still unable to vacate, he or she should write to the HoD for further extension of the grace period and put up justifications for HoD's consideration. According to the AR, HoD should approve a further extension of the grace period only where exceptional compassionate grounds exist, and the officer should be charged market rent for the quarters as assessed by the Government Property Agency during the further extended grace period. If the officer's application is turned down and he or she fails to vacate, HoD should refer the case to the Department of Justice (DoJ) for commencement of eviction proceedings. If necessary, DoJ will apply from the Court an order for eviction.

     As at April 1, 2017, there were 132 retired officers (accounting for 0.6% of total disciplined services quarters) who were still residing in departmental quarters beyond the three-month grace period.  They were subject to market rent under the above-mentioned regulations.

     During the past three years, 22 cases of overstaying beyond the extended grace period had been referred to DoJ for commencement of eviction proceedings (e.g. application for eviction order). In two of these cases, the officers concerned have vacated the quarters.
 
Ends/Wednesday, April 12, 2017
Issued at HKT 13:30
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