Families with newborns to get public-housing priority

Families with newborns will be given priority for public housing starting April 1, the Housing Authority said yesterday.

The Hong Kong Housing Authority Subsidized Housing Committee approved two housing priority schemes introduced by Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu in his policy address last year to encourage childbearing.

Speaking after a committee meeting, committee chairwoman Cleresa Wong Pie-yue, said the authority will launch the two schemes - families with newborns flat selection priority scheme and families with newborns allocation priority scheme on April 1.

The scheme will enable family applicants with babies born on or after October 25 last year to ballot and select a subsidized flat under this year's Home Ownership Scheme prior to other family and individual applicants.

However, they can hold on to the eligibility status if their children are no older than three on the closing day of the application for a sale under the scheme.

Wong said the authority will reserve 40 percent of the flats being sold under the scheme for family applicants with newborns, as well as those with elderly people aged 60 or above.

Starting April 1, families with babies born on or after October 25 last year and aged one or below will have their waiting time for public rental houses cut by a year.

"The Housing Authority will give priority to processing applications from eligible families, which can shorten their queuing time for up to a year," Wong said.

The authority also announced yesterday that it will launch sales for a total of 2,537 flats under the Green Form Subsidised Home Ownership Scheme at 48 percent off market prices in the first quarter, with one of the projects in Cheung Sha Wan offering 2,359 flats with saleable areas ranging between 26 and 60 square meters.

It comes after Lee announced in his maiden policy address in 2022 that the saleable area of all subsidized sale flats completed from 2026 to 2027 onward will be no less than 26 square meters.

To boost the SAR's falling birth rate, Lee announced in his policy address last year that the administration will distribute a one-off cash bonus of HK$20,000 to Hong Kong parents for each baby born on October 25 last year or after in the city, and the policy will last for three years.

Warner Cheuk Wing-hing, Deputy Chief Secretary for Administration, said on Wednesday that nearly 4,700 eligible applications for the cash bonus were received from October 25 last year until this Monday.

In his Facebook post, Cheuk said the Legislative Council finance committee will discuss the funding proposal for the cash bonus today, and parents could get the HK$20,000 "red pocket money" in late February if the committee approves the proposal.

"I hope there will be more newborns in the city in the coming year of the Dragon with the support of the cash bonus, adding joy and motivation to families and the society," Cheuk said.

The administration is proposing to allocate a commitment of HK$2.29 billion in non-recurrent funding for the three-year scheme, which is estimated to support about 39,000 newborns every year.