ENG-2009 — Page 268

208 Housing

Institutional Framework

The Secretary for Transport and Housing (STH) is responsible for all housing matters and is also the HKHA's chairman. She is assisted by the Permanent Secretary for Transport and Housing (Housing), who heads the Housing Department as its director.

The Housing Department has both policy and operational responsibilities for providing public rental housing and assessing eligibility for public housing assistance. It provides secretariat and executive support to the HKHA and its committees. The Transport and Housing Bureau's housing arm monitors developments in the private housing market, ensures home buyers have access to accurate, comprehensive and transparent property information, and oversees policy matters relating to the regulation of estate agents.

Public Rental Housing

The Government ensures that people who cannot afford private rental accommodation have access to subsidised public rental housing. It endeavours to keep the average waiting time for public rental housing at about three years for general applicants. The HKHA has put in place a rolling public rental housing construction programme while actual housing production will be adjusted regularly to take into account factors such as demand and tenancy turnover.

At present, about 2 084 500 people, or 30 per cent of Hong Kong's population, live in the public rental housing estates of the HKHA and the Hong Kong Housing Society (HKHS)4. The HKHA's revised estimate of expenditure on housing in 2009-10 was $15.3 billion, accounting for approximately 4.9 per cent of public expenditure. At end-2009, there were about 125 300 households on the HKHA's public rental housing waiting list and their average waiting time was about 1.9 years.

Rent Policy

It is the HKHA's long-established policy to set public rental housing rents at affordable levels. 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.

A new income-based rent adjustment mechanism for public rental housing was introduced under the Housing (Amendment) Ordinance 2007 which came into operation on January 1, 2008. The new mechanism provides for both upward and downward rent adjustment according to changes in tenants' household income.

The first public rental housing rent review will be conducted in 2010. Subsequent reviews will be conducted every two years thereafter.

Rent Assistance

The Rent Assistance Scheme (RAS) was introduced by the HKHA in 1992 to help public housing tenants facing temporary financial hardship. The scheme had been

4 The HKHS is an independent, not-for-profit organisation established in 1948. It provides

subsidised housing to specific target groups at affordable rents.