Hong Kong authorities should set targets in the city’s first five-year development plan to increase the average living space for public housing tenants and raise the minimum size of subsidised sale flats as supply grows, a concern group has urged.
The Federation of Public Housing Estates also said on Thursday that the government should make clear it aims to reduce the average waiting time for public rental housing to three years in the long run, rather than setting a time frame as a key performance indicator (KPI) in the five-year plan, as it might take more time to achieve.
As of end-March, the average waiting time for a public rental flat for general applicants – including families and one-person elderly households – was 5.6 years, which falls to 4.7 years after factoring in allocations of temporary housing under the Light Public Housing scheme.
“The government has made efforts to shorten the average waiting time for a public rental flat from its peak at 6.1 years. However, it still has a long way to go to reach the three-year target, and it has to work hard,” federation chairman Man Yu-ming said.
“The government has to reassure the public that the goal can and should be achieved to address the demand.”
The federation said the goal could be met in the future, as about 175,300 public homes were expected to be delivered between 2026–27 and 2030–31, while the government has also rolled out measures to encourage turnover of public rental housing.
Man stressed that KPIs would be useful for the public to monitor the government’s progress and said the authorities could consider setting a clear target for the living space of public flat tenants.