Public housing average waiting time expected to fall to below 4 years
發佈日期: 2025-09-28 19:41
TVB News
Secretary for Housing Winnie Ho believes the average waiting time for a public rental flat will drop to below four years in the latter part of the coming decade.
Enriching the housing ladder is one of the objectives of this year's policy address.
The Tenants Purchase Scheme, which enables tenants to buy their flats, however, was not introduced as some expected.
Speaking with TVB News, Secretary for Housing Winnie Ho said, the authorities will carefully consider the policy.
Referencing a similar scheme in the UK, Ho said it might not be an ideal model for Hong Kong.
Secretary for Housing Winnie Ho: "But recently, people from the UK actually tell me that they face a serious public housing problem. One of the major causes of the problem is at one time the government has sold a lot of their public housing to the private market. Now it's all like in the hand of the private market. This term of government emphasised a lot that the supply and demand for public housing, and the supply for public housing to meet the need should be tightly held in the hands of the government."
Nonetheless, she said the government is open to whether to relaunch the scheme, adding a small-scale implementation that only includes a few housing estates could be an option.
Meanwhile, a bill to regulate subdivided flats has just been passed by the Legislative Council.
As a result, some substandard subdivided units will be phased out, meaning more people could join the queue for public rental housing.
The housing chief said the average waiting time for a public rental flat will not surge, but drop to below four years in the latter part of coming 10 years.
Secretary for Housing Winnie Ho: "We have a basket of strategies, our light public housing units, our long-term public housing projects are all moving fast. In the next 10 years, towards the end of the 10 years, I think we can see a number below four. But how much below four? Three point something.Of course, I want to drive it down as much as possible, but it's a bit far away."
"Ho also reveals that the authorities may adjust the proportion of public rental housing and subsidised flats from the current 6:4 to 5:5 in a bid to help more people buy flats."
