ENG-2007 — Page 254

206 Housing

Rent Policy

It is the HKHA's long-established policy to set public rental housing rents at affordable levels. At present, rents are inclusive of rates, management and maintenance costs, and range from $220 to $3,370 with an average rent of $1,320 per month.

In January 2007, the Government introduced the Housing (Amendment) Bill 2007 into the Legislative Council to replace the statutory cap of 10 per cent median rent-to-income ratio in the Housing Ordinance with a new rent adjustment arrangement for the HKHA's public rental housing. The bill was passed by the Legislative Council in June 2007, and the new mechanism will come into effect on January 1, 2008. The new income-based rent adjustment mechanism, which provides for both upward and downward rent adjustments according to changes in tenants' household income, is a more flexible framework that matches more closely tenants' affordability and helps promote the long-term sustainability of the public rental housing programme.

Rent Assistance

The Rent Assistance Scheme was introduced by the HKHA in 1992 to provide assistance to public housing tenants facing temporary financial hardship. Eligible tenants are offered a 25 per cent or a 50 per cent rent cut. To assist more needy. families, the HKHA revised the scheme in October 2002 and the eligibility criteria for elderly tenants were relaxed. Tenants affected by redevelopment are also eligible for rent assistance immediately upon being rehoused. In March 2006, the HKHA further relaxed the eligibility criteria for non-elderly public housing tenants so that they may have benefits similar to those enjoyed by their elderly counterparts. These eligible households are entitled to a 25 per cent rent reduction. At the same time, the rent- to-income ratio threshold was lowered and the three-year residence criterion for households in older blocks was also lifted.

The criteria for rent-to-income ratio and income threshold were revised further to make the assistance more readily available to needy tenants. They went into effect in August. Meanwhile, the requirement for families living in newer blocks to be in residence there for three years before applying for rent assistance has been reduced to two years. Furthermore, the requirement for non-elderly tenants of older blocks to move to cheaper accommodation was waived, giving them the same concession afforded to their elderly counterparts. As at the end of 2007, some 43 300 households had benefited from the scheme.

Provision of Alternative Counter Collection Channels for Rent Payment

In the past, tenants of public rental housing estates paid their monthly rents through autopay, by phone, automatic teller machines or at estate shroff offices. From March, tenants were able even to pay at convenience stores as well. These are open round-the-clock. The collection service was further extended to the Customer Service Centres at Mass Transit Railway stations in May.