Community Care Fund relaunches subsidy for CSSA recipients living in rented private housing
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The Community Care Fund (CCF) announced today (November 30) the arrangements for relaunching the assistance programme Subsidy for Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Recipients Living in Rented Private Housing. The two-year programme is administered by the Social Welfare Department (SWD).
The programme, rolled out in October 2011, was launched annually in September 2013 to 2016. It aims at providing a one-off subsidy to Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) households living in rented private housing and paying rent which exceeds the maximum rent allowance (MRA) under the CSSA Scheme, so as to relieve their financial burden arising from the periodic increase of rent.
The SWD has now relaunched the programme and has adjusted the approach in subsidy calculation and disbursement to provide better assistance to eligible CSSA households.
Beneficiaries should be, as at July 31, 2017 (the specified date for the first year), tenants of private housing receiving CSSA with monthly rental payment exceeding the MRA under the CSSA Scheme. The CSSA recipients concerned are not required to submit applications as the SWD will identify eligible CSSA households based on information on reported rental records as at the specified dates in the first year and the second year respectively. Instead of a one-off fixed-amount subsidy as in previous years, a monthly subsidy will be calculated based on the reported rental records as at the relevant specified dates. The monthly subsidy will be either 50 per cent of the portion of the rental amount exceeding the applicable MRA or 15 per cent of the applicable MRA, whichever is the less. The subsidy will be disbursed annually in one go. Subsidies for the first year and the second year are expected to be deposited directly into the eligible CSSA households' bank accounts for CSSA payment from late January 2018 and January 2019 respectively.
For details of the programme, please visit the CCF website (www.communitycarefund.hk) or the SWD website (www.swd.gov.hk). For enquiries, please call the CCF Team of the SWD at 3422 3090 during office hours.
Ends/Thursday, November 30, 2017
Issued at HKT 11:00
Issued at HKT 11:00
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