Fresh graduates should lower public housing aspirations, says minister

Encouraging young people to apply for public housing right after graduation would curb their development, such as being unwilling to pursue promotion opportunities, said Secretary for Housing Winnie Ho Wing-yin.

In response to concerns raised by lawmaker Wendy Hong Wen during a Legislative Council meeting. Ho said that the purpose of building public housing is not to incentivize immediate applications from young individuals.

"No concessions will be given to those who apply early under the current point scheme, only to the relatively old applicants," Ho said.

While acknowledging the public's expectation to increase the supply of subsidized sale flats, Ho said that the primary focus at this stage is to augment the availability of public housing units to address the lengthy waiting list.

However, she also said that there would be room for adjusting the proportion between public housing and subsidized sale flats following a significant increase in the public housing supply expected from 2029/30 to 2033/34.

Ho assured that timely reviews would be conducted to reassess the ratio as necessary.

Highlighting the progress made in reducing the waiting list, Ho said that the number of applications for public housing had decreased from 155,000 in 2017 to 129,000 as of December last year, indicating a 17 percent decline.

To address the persistent shortfall in the public housing supply and meet housing needs of the general public, the government revised the public/private split of the new housing supply from 60:40 to 70:30 in 2018.

This ratio between public housing and Green Form Subsidized Home Ownership Scheme and other subsidized flats has been maintained at 70:30.

stacy.shi@singtaonewscorp.com