TNAG-1575-FCO40-2148-Housing-in-Hong-Kong-1986 — Page 16

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JP DRAFT SPEECH BY HON F K HU, OBE, LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 29 OCTOBER 1986

G

Adjournment Debate on the "Report of the Committee on Housing Subsidy to Tenants of Public Housing" and the "Report of the Domestic Rent Policy Review Committee"

In slightly more than a quarter of a century's time the

housing

relief

programme

type

in

of

Hong

housing

Kong

the to

has

grown

present

from

modern-day

the

public

emergency

standard accommodation, housing nearly half of the population of Hong Kong. While we all share our pride in the achievements in to whether Government should this

area, there are also doubts

area,

continuously inject such an enormous amount of public funds into the public housing programme, when there are many other equally

the Indeed,

issue of prosperous important competing tenants occupying heavily subsidized accommodation in the public

of sector

has

been

uses.

the subject

much discussion.

Some

have

queried as to whether it is necessary to maintain a programme on a model which might have been fully justified in the past, but is the light of the not necessarily nowadays, particularly in

OS

growing affluence of the population.

Against

such

background, as

Honourable

aware, the Committee on Housing Subsidy to Housing (which I have the honour to chair)

Members are

Tenants of Public

was set up in late

1984. A Green Paper was published in August last year, which was followed by a three-month consultation exercise

to collect as

much public opinion as possible on the issue from all sectors of

the

In the light

of

the

views

expressed,

the community. Committee was reconvened and has just completed a final report for submission to the Housing Authority in November 1986.

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