XN000022-1997-02-27 — Page 14

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I don't want, I've got them all here but I'll recognise the seriousness of the honourable gentleman's question. I don't want to go through all the figures of what we've done and what we've achieved in the last four and a half, five years because I want to address a question which I won't be around to help solve.

I think there are two real issues at the heart of our housing problems. The first is that despite the increase in the income in people's pockets, despite the effect that economic growth has had on things like median household incomes, there are still too many people who find it difficult to do what they want to do, that is to become a home owner. And if you look at world bank comparisons, in Hong Kong there should be far more people able to do that given our median household incomes.

Secondly, despite the fact that we put a huge amount of effort and a huge amount of resources into the provision of public housing, we still don't give enough assistance to those in the greatest housing need and there is very little choice at all in our housing provision, particularly for the needy and the disadvantaged. What on the whole happens, what on the whole happens at the moment is that after five, six, seven years on the waiting list, a family get a housing authority flat and they're then in it for life and sometimes their family are in it after. They will pay in that housing accommodation flat about a third as a proportion of their household income that they were paying in private sector probably far worse accommodation. If they're lucky they may be able to get into the HOS, into the home ownership scheme but nine out of every ten who apply for that scheme aren't lucky. But I repeat we put a huge amount of effort, of money, of energy into trying to cope with the problem but we've still got probably 80,000, I know the waiting list is bigger than that, but 80,000 who are actually qualified to get public housing and are having to wait for too long.

That's why I think the issues that are raised in the long-term housing review are serious ones which the community has to address. We've got to try to ensure that public housing goes to those who need it most. We've got to ensure that there is more flexibility in our housing provision and we've got to ensure that it becomes easier for people to become home owners than it is today. And in trying to achieve that we don't give up what we've got to do for those who are still in real need. I was standing on a rooftop in Sham Shui Po the other day looking at some of the awful housing that people still have in what is one of the most prosperous communities in the world. It is a challenge to us administratively and a challenge to our social consciences as well. These are big problems. I don't think we can go on trying to tackle them in the way that we've been using for the last ten or twenty years.

Finally, I'd commend to the whole Legislative Council a speech made on this subject about a fortnight ago by the Director of Housing in which he set out all these issues, I thought with considerable clarity and considerably verve.