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(c) the size of a flat which a family of two to three members can rent in the urban areas with the existing monthly maximum rent allowance of $2,265; and
(d) the average monthly rent allowance at present received by CSSA recipients living in private residential buildings; and how many such households have to use part of their monthly standard allowance to cover the shortfall in the rent allowance?
Reply:
Mr President,
Under the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) Scheme, a rent allowance is payable to enable recipients to meet the cost of accommodation. The allowance is set at levels which can fully cover the actual rent paid by all families living in public housing estates and the great majority of those living in private housing. The existing maximum levels of the monthly rent allowance range from $1,118 for a single person, $2,265 for a 2-3 person household, $2,858 for a 4-5 person household to $3,420 for a household with 6 or more persons.
The average monthly rent allowances received by CSSA recipients living in private housing in 1995 are not yet available. They will be ready early next year. But as at the end of December 1994, the average monthly rent allowance received by those living in private housing was about $700 for a single person household, $1,300 for a 2 person household, $1,500 for a 3 person household and $1,700 for a household with 4 or more persons. There were about 86,000 CSSA households receiving rent allowance, of which about 22% were living in private housing. Only about 2% of all households receiving rent allowance were paying rent above the existing maximum levels of rent allowance at that time.
CSSA households living in private housing and paying a rent higher than the relevant maximum rent allowance are usually short-term cases. In the event that it would be unreasonable to require CSSA recipients in this situation to move to cheaper accommodation in the short term, their cases may be referred to the Housing Department for compassionate rehousing or in the case of elderly persons, possibly for admission into a residential institution instead. The Director of Social Welfare has the discretionary power to approve payment of rent allowances up to two times that of the relevant maximum rent allowance while the CSSA household concerned is awaiting allocation of a public housing unit or admission into a residential institution.