CE Declares Victory In Hunt For Public Housing Sites

Chief Executive Carrie Lam said on Wednesday that the government has found all of the 330 hectares of land required to meet demand for public housing in the next 10 years.

Lam said the sites identified will provide 316,000 public flats, exceeding the expected need for about 301,000 units.

The land for much of the flats comes from reclamation in Tung Chung and agricultural plots and brownfield sites in New Development Areas such as Kwu Tung North / Fanling North and Hung Shui Kiu / Ha Tsuen.

Also included are plots in Kai Tak, the Anderson Road Quarry site, and part of the Fanling Golf Course.

Lam said the latest assessment for the Siu Ho Wan Depot site suggests it could provide about 20,000 residential units in the medium to long term, around half of which would be subsidised sale flats.

Meanwhile, the CE said the government will sell 4,700 flats under the Green Form Subsidised Home Ownership Scheme in phases next year, with the first batch of about 2,100 flats expected to be launched in May. An additional 700 recovered flats will also be put up for sale.

The government also plans to inject an additional HK$3.3 billion into transitional housing, increasing its commitment for this to HK$8.3 billion.

The CE said the government will launch a pilot scheme to help NGOs pay to rent rooms in hotels and guesthouses for temporary housing. She said the Transport and Housing Bureau will seek funding from the Community Care Fund to launch the scheme shortly.

Lam also said that a trial scheme to provide cash allowances for around 90,000 families waiting for public housing for more than three years will start accepting applications around the middle of next year, with the payments expected to be made from July.