Poverty Summit Out Of Touch With Needy: Protesters

Several groups rallied outside government headquarters -- the venue for the Commission on Poverty Summit on Saturday -- saying the gathering was ignoring those who have something to contribute to the discussion on alleviating poverty.

Dozens of protesters said the administration's poverty alleviation measures have been ineffective in helping the grassroots community, and sought the immediate implementation of a universal retirement protection scheme.

The protesters also accused the government of having an "elitist" mindset and of excluding them. Jay Yam, a spokesperson for the Concerning Grassroots' Housing Rights Alliance, accused the people attending the summit of being out of touch.

"The meeting today did not invite any grassroots people…to the meeting," Yam said, accusing those attending the summit of being out of touch with those living in real poverty.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam told the summit that one key solution to tackling poverty is to develop much-needed housing for the grassroots population as soon as possible.

She said the government is scrambling to find sites for temporary housing because it's not confident of being able to generate large amounts of public housing within the short to medium term.

Lam also reiterated the need to consider reclamation in the long run, saying this is an effective way to tackle the land shortage.