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Chapter 11

Housing

The Government ensures that all those who cannot afford private rental accommodation have access to subsidised public rental housing. Rents are set at affordable levels. The Housing (Amendment) Ordinance 2007 which came into operation on January 1, 2008 provides a more flexible rent adjustment mechanism for public rental housing that allows both upward and downward adjustment of rents according to changes in tenants' household income.

In December 2008, the total housing stock in Hong Kong amounted to about 2 509 900 flats, comprising about 733 500 public rental housing flats1, 395 700 subsidised home ownership flats and 1 380 800 flats in the private sector2. About 29 per cent of Hong Kong's population live in public rental housing flats with another 18 per cent in subsidised home ownership flats.

Housing Policy

The Statement on Housing Policy announced in 2002 by the then Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands set out the following major guiding principles of the Government's housing policy:

• The focus of the Government's subsidised housing policy should be on the provision of assistance to low-income families who cannot afford private rental accommodation;

• The Government should minimise its intervention in the private property market; and

• The Government should maintain a fair and stable operating environment for the private property market by ensuring adequate land supply and the provision of an efficient supporting infrastructure.

1 Including public rental housing and interim housing flats run by the Hong Kong Housing

Authority and rental flats run by the Hong Kong Housing Society.

2

Figures may not add up to total because they are rounded.