Green Form homes with less than 20 sq m will be ‘extinct,’ says Winnie Ho

Homes with a floor area of less than 20 square meters under the Green Form subsidized housing ownership scheme will be extinct, said housing minister Winnie Ho Wing-yin. 

Her remark came as lawmaker Wendy Hong Wen asked if authorities would cut the ratio of small homes to attract public rental housing tenants to buy Green Form flats and release their units. 

Hong also proposed connecting two adjacent small homes to increase the supply of flats with a floor area of 30 square meters or more, given that it is possible to do so. 

In reply, Ho said a total of 13,900 Green Form flats have been sold and some 2,000 of them have a floor area of less than 20 square meters, accounting for 15 percent. 

In the 2022 cycle of the scheme, the number of small homes was cut to 500 out of 4,100 already, accounting for less than 12 percent. 

Ho noted some 100 small homes are still not sold and they will be put up for sale in the next cycle. 

She stressed that the government had promised in last year’s policy address that subsidizing housing completed in year 2026/27 would have a floor area of at least 26 square meters. 

Lawmaker Johnny Ng Kit-chong suggested allocating public housing first to families who have children and live in partition flats in Sham Shui Po or Yau Tsim Mong. 

Ho then said the government cares for children in the city but there are also elderly people who are facing poor living environment in partition flats. She continued that authorities will keep an open mind and ensure the homes will be allocated under fair and objective standards to help the most needy.