More Public Housing Needed For Eradicating Poverty

Chief Executive Carrie Lam on Saturday called on society to arrive at a consensus on whether reclamation was the way to tackle the city's land shortage.

Speaking at the Commission on Poverty summit, she said one key solution to eradicating poverty would be to develop much-needed housing for the grassroots population as soon as possible.

Lam said the government was scrambling to find sites for temporary housing because it was not confident of being able to generate large amounts of public housing within the short to medium term. She said reclamation was one of the most effective ways to tackle the land shortage.

Lam said opponents of the idea would say they were speaking on behalf of the marine environment which does not have a voice of its own. But she stressed there were also lots of children in the community living in extremely poor conditions, who also cannot speak out for themselves.

Environmental groups hit back at Lam's comments, saying she has pitched environmental protection against development needs.

In a statement, Greenpeace said the Chief Executive has made green groups a scapegoat for the government's inability to provide adequate housing. The group said the administration should look at its own deficiencies such as the lack of long-term planning and its reluctance to tap into brownfield sites.

The Housing Secretary Frank Chan said the government has identified land for modular housing. Once it gets the necessary funding, the units could be put together in September.

Ng Kwan-lim from the Kwai Chung Subdivided Flats Residence Alliance welcomed the development of short-term housing, but said more needs to be done.

“It’s not bad for the grassroots because for the grassroots, they can have more choices. But we think it is not the best solution,” Ng added.