Beware of going too far

Housing officials yesterday revealed a further plan to crack down on public housing abuse.

They had only recently announced the details of a cash reward scheme to encourage public housing tenants to report on neighbors suspected of using their units improperly.

Under that move, anyone who successfully helps the authority evict neighbors with information stands to get up to HK$3,000 as an incentive.

Apparently, Secretary for Housing Winnie Ho Wing-yin and subsidized housing committee chairwoman Cleresa Wong Pie-yue do not have the patience to wait to monitor the outcome of the cash reward scheme before cracking on to the next stage of the clampdown.

If enacted, it would see tenants accused of abusing public housing face serious fines of up to HK$500,000 and a year in jail.

As she met the media, Wong rightly stated that the proposal to criminalize public housing abuse would create a deterrent effect.

If anything, it would be a deterrence on an enormous scale - it's hard to imagine who would not be taken aback by the idea, but the motive behind the plan is well justified.

Although it has been public knowledge for awhile that some tenants have been abusing their units, the extent of the problem would not have been discovered if not for the intensified crackdown over the past two years or so.

The situation has been found to be more serious than originally thought.

According to the housing secretary, the authority has recovered about 7,000 units over the past 30 months.

While that represents less than 1 percent of the households currently living in public housing estates, the number is still significant as 7,000 flats is about the size of a large housing estate.

Government sources said a bill would be introduced to the Legislative Council as early as April with a view to making it a criminal offense in the more serious cases.

No one would ever doubt the motive for the crackdown as public housing is heavily subsidized with taxpayers' money.

But a major concern about the proposed move is that some tenants may be caught unawares since public housing is meant to be exclusively for people from a less prestigious background on low incomes.

The concern is that they might not be equipped to understand the law until they are caught.

As part of its commitment to allocate public housing to the right individuals, the authority should continue to look into various alternatives - including the proposal to criminalize serious abuse of public housing - while the effectiveness of the cash reward scheme is evaluated.

Bear in mind that officials are confident that the cash reward will help uncover a further of 2,600 cases each year.

As the study continues, it will also be necessary to spell out clearly what kind of violations would be considered constituting a serious case that warrants heavy fines and imprisonment in addition to eviction from the public housing units.

What has been revealed is a major policy initiative - and the public should be given a chance to express their views on it as public consultation is also public education.