I would be initiating another motion debate if I were to go into the rationale behind the Housing Authority's rental policies. I must leave that to my colleague the Secretary for Housing for another suitable occasion. I shall concentrate here on whether there is a case for a temporary freeze in rent for one year as called for in the present motion.
The Financial Secretary, in his speech to this Council on 29 May 1991, expressed his confidence that the Authority would consider carefully the inflationary impact of any new rent reviews which were to be considered during the course of that year. The Authority did and has continued to do so. The Authority estimates that the total effect of this year's rental adjustments on the CPI(A) will be only in the order of 0.32%. The average annual rental increase of 8.4% referred to earlier is also below the projected inflation rate for the year.
To freeze rents for individual groups of public housing estates would be unfair and discriminatory. To avoid any rent review for a full two-year cycle would have serious financial implications for the Housing Authority which already incurs a loss on management of public rental housing. It would also set a dangerous precedent. In any case, households which face genuine difficulties can apply for help under the Rent Assistance Scheme. That must be the right way: target those who need help and give them full measure. Do not fritter away the public wealth by a blanket subsidy.
Railway fares
The MTRC and KCRC reviewed their fares earlier this year and the current fares came into effect on I May. This was an annual exercise, and we do not expect that there will be another fare increase for the rail services for at least another 9
months.
At the last fare revision in May, MTRC and KCRC fares were increased by an overall average of 7.8% and 7.1% respectively, in either case well below the projected inflation rate for 1995. The increases only constitute a small component of the average household expenditure, and are expected to have minimal impact (less than 0.2%) on the Consumer Price Index CPI(A). Under the new fare schedules, there has been no increase in the concessionary fares for senior citizens, students and children for a number of fare zones. Also, special discounts for travelling before the morning peak hour have been maintained in the case of the KCR, and doubled in the case of the MTR.