No room for rents of basic housing units to increase, housing chief says
發佈日期: 2025-06-22 21:34
TVB News
The Housing Bureau has been working on a comprehensive plan to eradicate notorious "subdivided flats" with poor living conditions.
Under the proposed "Basic Housing Units Bill," landlords must register their subdivided units and those below official standards must perform rectifications.
Secretary for Housing Winnie Ho told TVB News that rents for basic housing units will not go up.
There are currently about 220,000 residents living in 110,000 subdivided units across Hong Kong.
The authorities will allow a three-year grace period beyond 2027, when landlords can make renovations.
Speaking with TVB News, Secretary for Housing Winnie Ho said nearly 30,000 subdivided flats do not meet the bill's minimum floor area requirement of 8 square metres.
Given landlords may have to spend possibly hundreds of thousands dollars on rectification, registration and inspection, how many of them would continue operating?
Ho said: "Take a very conservative estimation, 10,000 (units) will come out of these 30,000. And the remaining 70,000 (flats that are already up to standard), altogether I have 80,000 recognised basic housing units in the future."
Still, some people choose to live in a shoebox flat because of its cheap rent or favourable location.
Some concerned groups are worried that the poorest will have to pay the highest rents after the new government policy.
Asked if she would expect a rise or decline in rents for subdivided units, Ho said: "Good question. The supply and demand really regulate the rents. The long-term public housing in ten years, I have a very clear plan of providing a supply of 308,000 units. With the adequate supply, there is no room for the rent to increase."
On another issue, the Housing Bureau has postponed the plan to build 8,300 public flats in Fanlng Area 17, claiming that the site has complex geology with a deep bedrock level at depths.
This is expected to result in a longer construction period and much higher costs.
Ho stressed the authorities would not give up the project, but re-prioritise housing projects based on cost-effectiveness.
