188
13 HOUSING
HOUSING in Hong Kong has undergone major redevelopment over the past two decades. More than 1.2 million public and private flats have been built. Today, public rental housing accommodates about 2.5 million people compared with 1.7 million in 1975. Some 38 per cent live in increasingly modern rental flats. Since 1978, the government has built more than 220 000 subsidised flats for sale under various home ownership schemes. As a result, 52 per cent of the people live in subsidised housing. The overall home ownership rate has risen to 52 per cent, compared with 38 per cent 10 years ago.
In 1996, the public sector produced about 31 200 flats, of which about 12 800 were for sale, and the private sector produced 19 800 flats.
Housing Policy
The government's policy is to help all households to have access to adequate and affordable housing, and to encourage home ownership in the community. The overall strategy it adopts in seeking to achieve these goals is by:
•
providing a sufficient supply of land, together with supporting infrastructure, for public and private housing;
creating the conditions to enable the private sector to make the fullest possible contribution towards meeting the demand for housing;
implementing subsidised housing schemes to enable those in the relevant income groups to buy their own homes;
providing quality public housing at reasonable rents for those who cannot afford any other type of housing; and
monitoring the private housing market and, where necessary, introducing measures to curb speculation.
Production Targets
The government aims to produce 511 000 new flats over six years from April 1995 to April 2001, made up of:
• 141 000 public rental flats.
• 175 000 subsidised flats for sale (under the four home-ownership schemes)
• 195 000 private housing flats.