Housing Group Backs CE's Original Subsidy Comment

A concern group says the Chief Executive Carrie Lam comment about subsiding people in the public housing queue is something it has been proposing for some time, even though she later backtracked on what she had said.

Lam said making the Housing Authority pay the subsidies was just an idea and not a serious proposal, after her comment resulted in speculation that she was trying to blame the authority for the long queue.

Lai Kin-kwok from the Subdivided Flats Concerning Platform told RTHK he was more optimistic that the process of building public flats could be sped up now that the government faced less opposition in the community.

Lai said the average waiting time for a public flat was around 5.6 years but some people could be waiting up to 8 or 9 years. He said the main problem had been finding land for public flats.

In her policy address this month, Lam proposed a government reorganisation to speed up land supply for housing, along with a Northern Metropolis, near the border with Shenzhen, to help address the housing problem.