Housing director confident that public housing waiting time will drop to 4.5 years by 2026-27

Director of Housing Rosanna Law Shuk-pui is confident that the goal of shortening the waiting time for public housing to 4.5 years by 2026-27 will be achieved, saying authorities have recovered nearly 2,800 units over the past year. 

She noted that before the current government cabinet assumed office, the average waiting time for public housing stood at 6.1 years and it was reduced to 5.3 years in the March-June quarter last year, marking a decrease of 13 percent. 

Speaking at the Housing Authority regular open meeting on Friday, Law pointed out that new measures introduced to combat the abuse of public housing have been effective. 

In 2023-24, nearly 2,800 flats were repossessed by the HA due to abuse and some 700 units were also recovered from April to June in the current fiscal year. 

Law added that the HA together with Land Registry established a data comparison and verification mechanism last year to unveil tenants who possess other residential properties in the city. 

The mechanism is also used to compare the data provided by Home Ownership Scheme applicants and their family members, the housing director noted. 

She warned that the application will be canceled and the HA will consider prosecution if any false information is found. 

As for checking tenants’ overseas assets, the HA recently cooperated with mainland and Macau authorities and successfully confirmed that nine tenants own residential or commercial units there. 

Some were in breach of the requirements and their units have been recovered as well, said Law.