Tighten Rules On Subsidised Homes: Lawmakers

Lawmakers have called on housing officials to get their act together and speed up work on tightening rules on subsidised homes.

The calls come amid reports that a suspect in the recent murder of socialite Abby Choi bought a flat under the Green Form Subsidised Home Ownership Scheme for public flat tenants, despite already owning a high-end flat in Ho Man Tin worth tens of millions.

Authorities have earlier conceded that they do not vet the assets of green-form applicants.

Speaking at a Legislative Council meeting on Wednesday, housing minister Winnie Ho said the administration is working on tightening the regulations before the next round of the green form scheme is rolled out.

But lawmakers say officials need to go further, noting that the government should also plug a loophole in the asset-checking mechanism for public housing tenants.

"If you don't declare your own assets or your income, which is in excess of the quota or the ceiling, chances are you don't get caught," legislator Paul Tse said.

"You get your public housing, and when you want to purchase the ownership flat, you get the green light as well without having been checked. Basically, there's a double abuse of the system."

Meanwhile, the Roundtable's Michael Tien said the administration should get information from the Land Registry when vetting the applications.

"It's the simplest thing. And the fact that they're not doing it and [instead] they are sampling, checking [public tenants' assets] is totally beyond my imagination," Tien said.