Hong Kong to reward public flat-abuse whistleblowers

Hong Kong’s housing chief said on Thursday that the SAR government is considering offering a monetary reward to encourage individuals to report abuse of public housing.

Speaking in an interview with Sing Tao Daily, The Standard’s sister publication, Secretary for Housing Winnie Ho Wing-yin said the SAR government will deal with suspected abuse of public housing resources seriously.

She said whenever authorities receive a report of the suspected abuse, the Public Housing Resources Management Sub-section under the Housing Department will initiate an investigation and follow up on all available information.

Eight retired police officers, including two former superintendents, were currently posted to the sub-section, said Ho.

When asked about a reporting mechanism for public housing abuse, Ho, for the first time, mentioned that the government is actively considering handing out rewards to encourage reporting of suspected abuse.

The idea was previously floated by Director of Housing Rosanna Law Shuk-pui, who said obtaining information through tip-offs greatly assists in recovering units from tenants abusing rental public housing flats.

Ho said authorities will make a detailed study on the development of the reward mechanism.

Meanwhile, the housing chief said the Housing Authority has recently reached out to Macau and mainland authorities to inquire about nine public housing tenants’ assets, with the nine tenants confirmed to own properties outside of Hong Kong.

Local authorities confirmed that the relevant tenants had exceeded the income and asset limits for living in public rental housing, and issued a Notice-to-Quit to the tenants, said Ho.

It is understood the relevant flats are located at seven public housing estates including Wo Tin Estate, Chun Yeung Estate, and Queen's Hill Estate.