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Public housing tenants will see a slight bump in their monthly expenses starting this October, though authorities assure the adjustment remains well below inflation and minimum wage increments.
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The Housing Authority’s Subsidised Housing Committee endorsed the adjustment for 2026, with individual increases ranging from HK$10 to HK$128 a month.
Committee chairman Stephen Cheung Yan-leung described the increase as “quite mild and acceptable,” noting that it remained below recent rises in inflation and the statutory minimum wage.
The adjustment is expected to generate an additional HK$540 million in annual rental income for the authority. However, Cheung said the increase might not be enough to cover rising estate management and maintenance costs.
Tenants facing financial hardship may apply under the Rent Assistance Scheme, which offers rent reductions based on applicants’ household income and circumstances.
Responding to questions about the mechanism used to calculate rent adjustments, Cheung said there were no plans to change the existing household income survey.
The authority randomly selects about 2,000 households each month to track changes in income. Well-off tenants and recipients of Comprehensive Social Security Assistance are excluded to prevent the figures from being distorted.
Cheung described the mechanism as “effective, representative and highly credible.”
