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Concern has been expressed as
as to whether such
tenants could afford to pay double rent. In effect, for
most of the Authority's tenants who have been in public
housing for more than 10 years and whose income have increased
to double the Waiting List Income Limit, they are already
among the top 15% households in terms of income in the whole
territory. Their median monthly income is around $13,200
and they are only paying a median rent of $330 per month.
If their net rents were to be doubled, they would have to pay
a new median rent of around $600, representing 4-6% of their
income. The new rent is clearly well within their affordability.
I am pleased to note that many members support
the recommendations made by the Committee. In particular,
Mrs. Selina Chow has outlined three conditions with which the
Authority is in full agreement.
have
Mr. HUI Yin-fat, Mr. C.F. Poon and Dr. Richard Lai
expressed their doubts on the current method of
calculating household income? They are of the view that it
is unreasonable to include all the income of working children
in such calculation. I would just like to point out that
including 60% of the income of working children was in fact
the original proposal made by the Committee.
This was
subsequently changed in response to public comments made
after the publication of the Green Paper on Housing Subsidy
to Tenants of Public Housing. The Subsidy Income Limit now
proposed is a more generous figure and it takes into account views expressed by the public on the method of calculation.
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