Following is a question by Hon Cheung Pui-kong and a written reply by the Secretary for Housing, Ms Winnie Ho, in the Legislative Council today (June 17):

Question:

      The Subsidised Housing Committee of the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA) endorsed at its meeting on October 31, 2016 that the Territory-wide Overcrowding Relief Exercise and the Living Space Improvement Transfer Scheme would be implemented in one go starting from 2017-2018. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(1) of the following information before and after the aforesaid two schemes were implemented in one go: (i) the total number of eligible applications, (ii) the number of applications received by HA, and (iii) the number of households that were ultimately allocated public rental housing (PRH) units, as well as the number of applications for which no PRH unit was allocated and the main reasons for that, with a breakdown by tenants with an internal floor area (IFA) (a) below 5.5 square metres and (b) between 5.5 sq m and 7 sq m per person;

(2) as it is learnt that under the current transfer schemes, applicants will be bound by their original district of residence when selecting units (for example, households living in the New Territories being only allowed to select units in the New Territories and Tung Chung) unless they have lived in their PRH units for 10 or more consecutive years, of the basis for imposing such a district-bound PRH allocation restriction; the number of PRH units available for transfer in each district across the territory, and the proportion of applications under the transfer schemes in which applicants relinquished their chance for unit selection due to the district-bound restriction in each of the past three years;

(3) as it is learnt that households who have successfully secured a transfer must vacate their original units within a specified time frame, but some households have indicated that they were unable to do so within the time frame due to removal arrangements or special difficulties, of the number of households that were fined or disqualified from transfer due to failure to vacate their original units within the time frame in each of the past three years; whether HA will consider handling special cases flexibly or granting an appropriate grace period for removal to households in need; and

(4) given that some tenants living in PRH units with an IFA between 5.5 sq m and 7 sq m per person have relayed that they have applied for consecutive years but failed to secure a transfer despite their repeated applications because cases involving a lower IFA per person or a more overcrowded living environment were often prioritised for transfer in each round of vetting, whether the authorities will consider optimising the current transfer mechanism; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Reply:

President,

     The current-term Government attaches great importance to the housing needs of the public and has proactively adopted a multi-pronged approach to enhance housing protection for low-income residents. In addition to making every effort to increase public housing supply, the Housing Bureau is also committed to enhancing residents' living environment at all fronts. To provide citizens with more spacious housing, with regard to Public Rental Housing (PRH), except for one-person and two-person units, the internal floor area of all newly-built PRH units to be completed in 2026-27 and onwards will be no less than 21 square metres. Moreover, whilst ensuring that the overall supply of public housing remains unchanged, the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HKHA) plans to increase the internal floor area of units by approximately 10 per cent, where feasible, for public housing projects (including PRH and Subsidised Sale Flats (SSF)) to be completed in 2031-32 and onwards.  

     As for current PRH tenants, those who meet the eligibility criteria may apply for HKHA's annual Territory-wide Overcrowding Relief Exercise and Living Space Improvement Transfer Scheme (the Scheme). Flats are allocated on a self-selection basis to eligible PRH tenants who apply for the Scheme. Under the said Scheme, any PRH tenants living in a flat with a living density of less than 7 sq m per person (calculated on the basis of internal floor area) may apply to be rehoused into a larger flat through the Scheme.

     In recent years, the Government has strived to increase public housing supply and adopted a multi-pronged approach to expedite the turnover of PRH units, with a view to gradually alleviating the queue for PRH. Under the Government's effort, the number of PRH general applicants has further decreased. As at end-March 2026, there were about 103 400 general applications for PRH, and about 81 100 non-elderly one-person applications under the Quota and Points System. Compared with the highest level of 156 400 cases of general applications and 143 700 cases of non-elderly one-person applications, the application numbers reduced significantly by more than 30 per cent and over 40 per cent respectively. That said, the demand for PRH remains very high at present. We must therefore strike the best balance between helping PRH tenants to live more spaciously and meeting the housing needs of those who are still on the waiting list, particularly those who are currently paying high rents and residing in inadequate housing (such as sub-divided units, rooftop houses, bedspaces, etc.) and are in the most genuine needs for more urgent assistance. We need to ensure that public housing resources are allocated effectively and in a targeted manner to citizens with pressing housing needs.

     At the same time, the Government has all along been striving to enhance the housing ladder through the provision of various types of SSF to respond to the home ownership aspiration of households with different income levels, thereby enabling citizens to move up the housing ladder according to their financial abilities. This includes helping more PRH tenants purchase SSF and become homeowners.

     As a matter of fact, the Government encourages members of the public, including PRH tenants, to move up the housing ladder as appropriate according to their affordability. The total public housing supply in the coming five years is expected to grow steadily, and the supply of HOS flats for the next five-year period (2026-27 to 2030-31) is expected to reach as high as about 59 000 flats, representing an increase of almost 50 per cent as compared to the first five-year period when the current-term Government took office (2022-23 to 2026-27). With such a significant increase in supply, the chances for SSF applicants to purchase a flat have increased significantly. To encourage upward mobility of PRH tenants, HKHA has, starting from the Sale of Home Ownership Scheme Flats 2025, adjusted the quota allocation ratio of Green Form and White Form to 50:50. This will help more PRH tenants purchase SSF and become homeowners, thereby further improving their living environment and enhancing their quality of life.

     In response to the question raised by the Hon Cheung Pui-kong, the reply is as follows:

(1) The Territory-wide Overcrowding Relief Exercise (TWOR) and the Living Space Improvement Transfer Scheme (LSITS) have been merged since 2017-18. Relevant statistics including the numbers of households eligible for application, the numbers of applications received by HKHA, the numbers of successful applications for PRH allocation, and the numbers of unsuccessful applications for PRH allocation before and after the merging of TWOR and LSITS are in Annex 1 and Annex 2 respectively. Whether before or after the merging of the two schemes, the main reasons for unsuccessful applications included no suitable flats for the applicant's household size on the list of available flats, and applicants failing to select a flat or voluntarily withdrawing their selection due to various reasons (such as an unsatisfactory location, floor level and/or orientation of the flat).

(2) With a view to providing PRH residents with more opportunities to enhance their living space, at the meeting held on November 24, 2005, the Subsidised Housing Committee of HKHA reviewed the flat transfer arrangements under the schemes. Taking into account the uneven distribution of vacant flats in various districts at that time, in order to make better use of vacant flats in the districts, Members agreed to relax the locality restriction under TWOR and LSITS, under which applicants eligible for the schemes with residence of over ten years (counting from the commencement date of the tenancy as stipulated under the Housing Subsidy Policy) might choose to move to any district. This arrangement would increase flexibility and the opportunities for transfer, and would facilitate the use of vacant flats in older PRH estates in urban areas.

     The numbers of flats that are available for transfer under the Scheme in various districts in the past three years are tabulated below:
 

District	Number of flats available for transfer under the annual exercise*
	2023-24	2024-25	2025-26
Urban	370	390	530
Extended Urban	350	230	420
New Territories	380	480	150
Islands	0	0	0

*Note: Figures are rounded to the nearest ten.

     Since applicants are not required to provide detailed explanations for giving up a selected flat, we have not compiled statistics on the percentage of cases of which flat selection was given up due to locality restriction.

(3) Under HKHA's prevailing policy, PRH tenants who have transferred to another PRH unit under HKHA are required to surrender the original unit to the Housing Department (HD) within 60 days from the commencement date of the new tenancy. If necessary, the tenant may apply for an extended stay up to 30 days, during which an occupation fee is payable. If an individual tenant encounters special circumstances that prevent timely surrender of the PRH unit, the tenant may contact HD, which will handle the matter considering the actual circumstances.

     In the past three years (2023-24 to 2025-26), among the successful cases for allocation of PRH units under the Scheme, no cases were fined or had the transfer revoked due to the tenant's refusal to move out from the original flat.

(4) The number of eligible applications received under the Scheme has fallen substantially from about 5 300 in 2017-18 to about 2 400 in 2025-26, representing a drop of 55 per cent. The sharp decline in the number of applications for the Scheme was primarily due to the fact that about 1 000 tenants had been successfully transferred through the Scheme each year with living environment enhanced. Additionally, some tenants moved out after purchasing SSF along the housing ladder, while some others had their living environment enhanced through transfer by other means, for instance, due to social or medical grounds, etc.  

     Furthermore, over the past two years in 2024-25 and 2025-26, upon completion of flat selection by all applicants invited (including tenants with an internal floor area between 5.5 sq m and below 7 sq m per person), a small number of newly completed and recovered PRH units remained unselected. This reflected that the merged Scheme has fully met the transfer needs of eligible households.

     Since the merging of TWOR and LSITS in 2017-18, HKHA has been able to utilise its resources in a holistic manner more flexibly, thereby successfully and effectively reducing the number of flats earmarked for the transfer exercises. As a result, more flats could be released more quickly for allocation to PRH applicants. Given that PRH resources remain scarce, we must prioritise the housing needs of different groups of PRH applicants and direct such valuable resources towards applicants with the most pressing housing needs, such as citizens currently living in inadequate housing and tenants under HKHA's redevelopment projects.  

     The current benchmark of 5.5 sq m of internal floor area per person for defining overcrowded households enables us to focus limited housing resources on households in most need of a better living environment. To ensure the fair allocation of PRH resources, we consider that the current mechanism of determining the priority of flat selection based on living density is appropriate. In addition to the Scheme, there are also other avenues currently available to PRH tenants for improving their living environment, such as application for other transfer schemes, including the Harmonious Families Transfer Exercise which allows PRH tenants to transfer to the same estate where their elderly parents or offspring are currently living in for mutual care, as well as purchase of SSF. In view of the need to ensure rational allocation of PRH resources and to balance the needs of different groups of PRH applicants, we consider the current arrangement of the said Scheme appropriate. We will review the relevant Scheme in due course with a view to meeting the future needs of the society.

Ends/Wednesday, June 17, 2026
Issued at HKT 14:48

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