TNAG-1575-FCO40-2148-Housing-in-Hong-Kong-1986 — Page 26

Sir

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DRAFT SPEECH BY HON CHEUNG YAN LUNG, OBE, SBS tJ, JP LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL - 29.10.86

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"

My Honourable colleagues, Mr HU Fa-kuang and Mr CHAN

Mr HU, Ying-lun, are both members of the Housing Authority.

who is Chairman of the Committee on Housing Subsidy to Tenants of Public Housing, has just explained the recommendations of his committee and Mr CHAN, who is Chairman of the Domestic Rent Policy Review Committee, will be speaking in detail on the

I should therfore concentrate on proposals of the committee.

the broader aspects of the issues under debate today.

Firstly, I shall speak on the Domestic Rent Policy. The Committee has suggested that no changes should be made to the existing rent policy of the Authority, that is, in a nutshell, rent should not be entirely cost-based, but should have reference to the ability of the general tenants to pay, taking into consideration other factors such as amenities, facilities, convenience etc which should differentiate one

I support this as a reasonable housing estate from the other. way for setting public housing rent in Hong Kong, having regard to the historical development of Hong Kong's public housing and the Authority's current financial arrangement with the

Government.

The Committee has further recommended a guideline that rent for new public housing estates should not be set higher than 15% of the median income of the prospective tenants. This so called rent/income ratio has aroused a lot of discussions in the past two months.

Groups representing public

housing tenants criticized this 15% ratio as being too high. Their reaction is not unexpected.

Firstly, many tenants in the

older housing estates who are at present paying a substantially lower proportion of their income as rent fear that their rents

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