ENG-2002 — Page 254

HOUSING

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through the more flexible and well tested means of loans. Accordingly, it has been decided that, with the exception of a limited number of unsold and returned HOS/PSPS flats, the production and sale of HOS/PSPS flats will cease indefinitely from 2003 onwards.

Mixed Development Scheme

Mixed development is a means to encourage private sector involvement in the public housing programme. Under this approach, residential sites are offered for sale by tender, and the successful tenderer is required to hand over a specified proportion of flats within the development to the Government for sale to eligible low income families at designated prices, and retains the remaining proportion of flats for sale in the open market. The Government has decided to stop all the mixed development projects being planned by the HKHS and the HKHA, in line with its overall objective of minimising government intervention in the market.

Tenants Purchase Scheme

In 1998, the HKHA launched the Tenants Purchase Scheme (TPS) to offer sitting PRH tenants an opportunity to purchase their flats at substantially discounted prices. Over the past five years, some 134 000 PRH units have been rolled out under the scheme. The Government has decided to halt the TPS following the disposal of those units already announced for sale so as to give effect to its objective of withdrawing from direct provision of subsidised sale flats. Sitting tenants can continue to apply for loans to purchase flats in the private market, or to purchase flats in the secondary HOS market for which no payment of premium is required.

Home Assistance Loan Scheme (HALS)

Following the withdrawal from the direct provision of subsidised sale flats, loans have become the principal means for offering assistance to eligible families aspiring to become home owners. The HKHA approved in December the introduction of a new Home Assistance Loan Scheme to replace its HPLS and the Home Starter Loan Scheme (HSLS) operated by the HKHS. Key features of the new scheme include raising the income limit for White Form (WF) family applicants above that under the HOS from $20,000 to $23,000 a month ($11,500 for a singleton). The loan amount for WF applicants will also be raised to bring it on a par with that for Green Form applicants ($530,000 for a repayment period of 13 years). The scheme will be kept under review.

Housing for Groups in Special Need

The Elderly

An elderly person who prefers to live alone can apply under the Single Elderly Persons Priority Scheme and be allocated a public rental flat within three years. The Government has pledged to reduce the average waiting time of elderly singletons who wish to live by themselves to two years by 2005. Two or more elderly persons who are

6 White Form applicants (mainly living in private sector housing) are subject to a domestic property restriction, net asset limits and income limits. These restrictions do not apply to Green Form applicants who are principally public rental housing tenants, residents of interim housing managed by the HKHA, households displaced by the clearance of squatter areas for development, and victims of natural disasters.