LCQ22: Mutual Aid Committees of public housing estates
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Question:
Estate Management Advisory Committees (EMACs) are established by the Hong Kong Housing Authority for its public housing estates (PHEs). Each EMAC comprises members such as District Council member(s) of the constituency to which a PHE belong, representatives of the Housing Department (HD), and representatives of the Mutual Aid Committee (MAC) of the PHE concerned. The functions of EMACs are to enhance the supervision and appraisal of the work of PHEs' service contractors (contractors). On the other hand, it has been reported that MACs will be disbanded one after another within this year. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) given that MACs represent PHE residents to express views at EMACs in respect of the monitoring of outsourced property management, cleaning and security work at PHEs, of the channels through which EMACs collect residents' views after the disbandment of MACs;
(2) given that the functions of EMACs include awarding or renewing service contracts and appraising the performance of contractors, whether the HD will, starting from next year, listen to residents' views before selecting contractors, e.g. by inviting resident representatives directly to participate in the selection process; if so, of the details and implementation timetable; and
(3) as it is learnt that there are more than 1 600 MACs in the territory, how the HD will make use of the premises of MACs after their disbandment (e.g. whether the premises will be converted into recreation rooms for residents), and of the details of the relevant plans?
Reply:
President,
Our reply to the question raised by the Hon Chan Hok-fung is as follows:
According to the notification issued by the then Home Affairs Bureau (HAB) on March 30, 2022, all Mutual Aid Committees (MACs) are required to be dissolved before January 1, 2023. As MAC representatives form the majority of the membership of the Estate Management Advisory Committee (EMAC) of the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA), the operation of EMAC will continue until December 31, 2022 to synchronise with the HAB's scheduled termination of the MAC Scheme.
Upon the dissolution of MACs, the HA will widen the communication channels with the residents through traditional and electronic means with a view to gauging views from tenants direct. For example, the HA will place suggestion boxes at the ground floor lobbies of domestic blocks, display QR codes and hyperlinks on notices, as well as widen the scope of the use of the "iHousing" mobile app. Tenants can continue to exchange views with Housing Department (HD)'s staff on estate management matters and performance of service contractors by visiting our Estate Management Offices (EMOs) in person and through telephone hotline or emails as usual. In addition, the HA publicises its work through various means. These include the Estate Newsletters published in May and November each year, notices, suggestion boxes at EMOs, social media platforms (including Facebook, Instagram and YouTube), etc.
To monitor and to evaluate the performance of service contractors, the HA has already established a structured appraisal system which includes assessments made by HD staff and the conduct of regular Survey on Performance of Services Contractor and Routine Maintenance Contractors (the Survey) to collect tenants' views. The assessment made by the MAC only accounts for part of the appraisal. In future, the HA will enhance the Survey in terms of the sampling size and the frequency of conducting the Survey with a view to gathering views from more tenants on the performance of service contractors (including property services agents, works contractors, cleaning and security contractors in the estates) so as to improve the management service of the estates. For the award/ renewal of service contracts, the HA will assess the relevant working experience and the performance level of service delivery of all bidders in accordance with the current assessment mechanism so as to select suitable service contractors.
Currently, there are a total of some 1 100 MAC offices in the HA's properties. The HA will conduct feasibility studies on the future usage of these MAC offices, taking into consideration the compliance with the Buildings Ordinance and relevant regulations, land use restrictions, planning restrictions, environmental factors as well as views of residents, etc. The HA's priority will be to convert them to domestic use if technically feasible. Besides, the HA will also consider converting them as service rooms to support the implementation of the Municipal Solid Waste Charging Scheme as it is anticipated that additional space in the estates will be required for handling recyclable materials. If organisations/institutions are interested in leasing the recovered MAC offices for welfare or other uses, the HA will handle such applications based on the established mechanism and in accordance with relevant statutory requirements and regulations, technical feasibility and the actual circumstances of the estates.
Ends/Wednesday, July 6, 2022
Issued at HKT 16:18
Issued at HKT 16:18
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