About 80,000 basic housing units available following crackdown on substandard housing: housing chief

Secretary for Housing Winnie Ho Wing-yin said the city’s crackdown on substandard housing will leave approximately 80,000 basic housing units available on the market.

In an article published in South China Morning Post on Thursday, the housing chief said there are currently around 110,000 subdivided units in Hong Kong.

Under the proposed regulatory regime for Basic Housing Units, it is expected that approximately 30 percent of the subdivided units will be eradicated, while the remaining 70 percent would only require minor adjustments to meet the minimum requirements, she said.

Authorities previously floated the idea of replacing substandard subdivided units with basic housing units. These must be no less than 8 square meters, or 86 square feet, and have an individual toilet and at least one window.

Ho said in the future, all subdivided units entering the market must be recognized as basic housing units before being rented out.

“The government will adopt a gradual approach with careful planning when implementing the basic housing unit regulatory regime. Specifically, we will set up a registration system that could last for up to 18 months, during which landlords of pre-existing subdivided units that have been successfully registered will be granted a grace period of up to 24 months after the end of the registration period.

“This will provide reasonable time for landlords to discuss arrangements with tenants and convert their subdivided units to the required standard,” she said.

The government official said the Housing Department will systematically crack down on substandard subdivided units, while district service teams will assist tenants in finding suitable alternative accommodations, such as transitional housing and light public housing.

Meanwhile, Ho said the SAR government has introduced various measures to substantially increase the public housing supply in Hong Kong by enhancing quantity, speed, efficiency and quality.

“Coupled with some 30,000 units of light public housing currently under construction and to be completed by 2026-27, the total public housing supply in the coming five years will reach 189,000 units, about 80 percent higher than that of the previous five-year period,

“The increase in public housing supply does more than enable eligible households to find places in public housing more quickly with improved living conditions. It also helps the government tackle the long-standing issue of subdivided units,” Ho added.