LCQ21: Hostels in the City Scheme
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Question:
The Government launched the Hostels in the City Scheme (the Scheme) in 2025 to encourage the market to convert existing commercial buildings into student hostels on a self-financing and privately-run basis to increase the supply of student hostel places. In view of market responses, the facilitation measures under the Scheme were subsequently expanded to cover newly built and redeveloped student hostels. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) given that according to the latest figures announced in the Chief Executive's 2026 Policy Address, 41 applications have been confirmed to be eligible under the Scheme so far, of the reasons for those processed applications not being confirmed to be eligible;
(2) of the number of applications received, broken down by the following three categories: (i) applications for wholesale or partial conversion of existing hotels into student hostels; (ii) waiver applications submitted for existing commercial buildings; and (iii) applications involving lease modification and payment of premium;
(3) whether the Government has projected the total number of student hostel places to be completed this year; whether the Government will consider, in the long run, pegging the annual supply of hostel places designated under the Scheme to the additional number of students resulting from the relaxation of the admission quota of non-local students of funded post-secondary institutions to 50 per cent of local student places; and
(4) given that the Government revealed earlier that it would put up three spade-ready sites in Kai Tak, Siu Lek Yuen in Sha Tin and Tung Chung East for sale by public tender in 2026-2027 for student hostel development, which could provide around 4 500 hostel places according to preliminary estimates, of the current implementation progress and expected completion time of the plan?
Reply:
President,
To consolidate Hong Kong's position as an international post-secondary education hub, the Development Bureau (DEVB) and the Education Bureau (EDB) jointly launched the Hostels in the City Scheme (the Scheme) in July 2025. Through relaxed development control measures, the Scheme encourages the market to convert or redevelop existing commercial buildings into student hostels on a self-financing and privately-run basis, thereby increasing the supply of hostel spaces for post-secondary students. Applications confirmed as eligible under the Scheme are still required to comply with all development control requirements before the proposed student hostel projects can proceed.
In respect of the various parts of the question, having consulted the EDB, the reply is as follows:
(1) As at October 28, 2026, the EDB has received a total of 52 applications. Of these, 45 applications involving around 11 450 hostel places have been confirmed eligible under the Scheme. The majority are wholesale conversion cases located in urban areas including Yau Tsim Mong, Kwun Tong, Sham Shui Po, Wan Chai, and Central and Western Districts. Six applications are under processing, while the remaining one was not confirmed as eligible because the hostel design failed to meet the safety and liveability requirements.
(2) Of the 45 applications confirmed as meeting the eligibility requirements of the Scheme:
(i) two involved wholesale or partial conversion of existing hotels into student hostels; and
(ii) and (iii) to date, five applications have been submitted to the Lands Department (LandsD) for waivers or lease modifications with premium implications, while seven other cases have yet to submit relevant applications for LandsD's processing.
(3) As at October 28, 2026, a total of four projects under the Scheme had been completed and commenced operation in the 2026/27 academic year, providing approximately 700 hostel places for post-secondary students.
In addition to the four completed projects, five cases (involving approximately 740 hostel places) have obtained all the approvals related to development control and are currently undergoing conversion works. The works are expected to be completed in about a year.
The Scheme focuses on streamlining development-control procedures and providing one-stop facilitation measures to encourage the market to increase the supply of student hostel places. However, whether to convert or redevelop commercial buildings into student hostels is ultimately a commercial decision. The Government therefore has no intention to set a specific target for the number of hostel places, or to link the annual supply of hostel places with the additional student intake arising from the relaxation of the quota for non-local students.
(4) The DEVB plans to put up for tender the Siu Lek Yuen (Shatin) site in the third quarter of this financial year for post-secondary student hostel development under the Scheme. It is preliminarily estimated that this will provide around 600 beds. Having regard to the tender results of the Siu Lek Yuen (Shatin) site, the Government will consider whether and when to put the Kai Tak and Tung Chung East sites up for sale.
Ends/Wednesday, October 28, 2026
Issued at HKT 15:00
Issued at HKT 15:00
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