ENG-2011 — Page 263

Chapter 11

Housing

The Government helps families in need to gain access to adequate and affordable housing. Those who cannot afford private rental accommodation may apply for public rental housing.

There were about 2 596 400 flats in Hong Kong as at December 2011, comprising about 761 200 public rental housing flats', 390 400 subsidised sale flats. and 1 444 800 flats in the private sector2. About 30 per cent of Hong Kong's population live in public rental housing flats, and another 17 per cent live in subsidised sale flats.

Housing Policy

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The Government's aim is to provide mainly through the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HKHA)3 public rental housing to low-income people who cannot afford private rental accommodation. It also makes every effort to keep the average waiting time for public rental housing to around three years for general applicants.

The HKHA has a rolling public rental housing construction programme. Between 2011-12 and 2015-16, it plans to build about 75 000 rental flats, or an average of about 15 000 flats each year. However, this is not a fixed target. If necessary, it can be adjusted and increased to maintain the target average waiting time of around three years.

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 The figures, because they have been rounded off, may not correspond with the total.

3

The HKHA, established in 1973, is a statutory body responsible for implementing the majority of Hong Kong's public housing programmes. The HKHA provides public rental housing to low income families who cannot afford private rental accommodation. It also runs interim housing and transit centres to provide temporary accommodation to families facing short-term problems in finding suitable accommodation.

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