ENG-1995 — Page 233

HOUSING

Housing the Elderly

Under the Housing for Senior Citizens Scheme, introduced in 1987, more than 2 599 housing units have been provided for able-bodied elderly persons aged 60 years or over who are self-reliant and independent. A warden service is provided to deal with emergencies. As a priority scheme, elderly couples or single elderly persons applying in groups of two or more are allocated public housing within two years. In 1995, 1 631 people were rehoused under this scheme and 792 flats were allocated. Persons requiring a higher level of health care are referred to the Social Welfare Department for transfer to more suitable housing.

Since June 1994, priority for public housing has been given to families applying with elderly parents or dependants. So far, 1 864 families have benefited from this scheme. New housing for the elderly will be built on small urban sites over the next few years and in the five-year period from 1995 to 1999, the Housing Authority will provide 36 000 flats suitable for small households, 60 per cent of which will be used to rehouse elderly people.

Assisted Home Purchase

Home Ownership Scheme and Private Sector Participation Scheme

The Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) was introduced in 1978 to provide flats for sale to lower- and middle-income families and public housing tenants at prices well below market value. About 222 000 flats have so far been sold to eligible families. This includes 68 284 flats produced under the complementary Private Sector Partici- pation Scheme (PSPS), which makes use of the resources of the private sector to produce flats for sale at subsidised prices.

Private sector applicants are not allowed to own domestic property within two years of the submission of their applications and are subject to a household income limit of $25,000 a month. These restrictions, however, do not apply to public housing tenants, residents of temporary housing areas and cottage areas managed by the authority, households displaced by the clearance of squatter areas for development, natural disaster victims and junior civil servants.

As an encouragement, public housing tenants are given higher priority than private sector applicants in selecting HOS flats, receiving about two-thirds of the total number available. About 48 per cent of the families who bought property under the schemes were public housing tenants who surrendered their rental flats in return. This incentive has also been extended to prospective tenants so as to release more public rental units for those in greater need.

Favourable mortgage terms are provided by 46 financial institutions for HOS and PSPS flats purchasers. The authority, in return, undertakes to indemnify them against loss in cases of default. Purchasers can borrow between 90 and 95 per cent of the flat price at a favourable interest rate, with repayment periods of up to 20 years.

During the year, some 10 518 flats and 2 270 flats were sold under the HOS and the PSPS schemes. The schemes were over-subscribed by 10 times. The prices of flats sold ranged from $293,800 for a flat with a saleable floor area of 19.8 square metres at Hing Ming Court, Tseung Kwan O, to $1,595,100 for a flat of 59.9 square metres at Tsz Oi Court, Tsz Wan Shan. Prices were, on average, 45–48 per cent below market values.

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