Depression and anxiety plagues most subdivided flat tenants

Almost three quarters of tenants living in subpar housing - subdivided and partitioned units - suffer from moderate to severe depression, a survey has found.

That finding emerged from a poll by Kwai Chung Subdivided Flats Residents Alliance of 156 residents in June and July in the district that looked into the mental health and living conditions.

Of the respondents, half lived in subpar housing conditions and the other half in public housing.

The number of subpar housing tenants with moderate and severe depression was three times that of public housing tenants.

And nearly half of such tenants, 42 percent, had moderate and severe anxiety, two times higher. Meanwhile, the living pressure index for them was 6.4 points - twice as high as the 3.7 points for public housing residents.

"At 51 square feet, the median accommodation area per capita of inadequate housing tenants is less than public housing tenants' 92 sq ft," the alliance said.

"It is equivalent to the size of correctional services' single prison cell."

Also standing out was the difference in median rents .

"At HK$5,800, the median monthly rent paid by inadequate housing tenants is twice that of public housing tenants," it said.

"That amount accounts for 45 percent of the monthly income of inadequate housing tenants."

Ching, with a family of four, said he had lived in both subdivided and partitioned units over the past 13 years.

"Water leakage occurred at one stage in our partitioned unit, with my wife heavily pregnant at the time," he said.

"We had to move all the furniture, which was very stressful the landlord didn't help at all."

Ching said he felt ashamed to let friends know about his living conditions and that there was a lack of mental health support for tenants like him.

Ting-ting, a subdivided unit tenant, said her 100-sq-ft residence could only accommodate one piece of furniture - a bed.

"It is hard to pull out a table to have a meal," she said.

Alliance member Chow Mei-chi suggested a suitable upper limit of rental increases be set for tenants of subpar housing, such as 3 to 8 percent.

"The government recently tabled a bill that ramps up the upper limit for rent increases to 15 percent," she said, adding that will not alleviate the financial pressure felt by tenants of partitioned flats.