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Housing

The Steering Committee on Housing Land Supply, chaired by the Financial Secretary, pro- actively co-ordinates the overall plans for development and supply of land in Hong Kong for various uses, and adjusts land supply in response to changes in demand.

Institutional Framework

The Secretary for Transport and Housing is responsible for housing matters, assisted by the director of the Housing Department, and is also the HKHA's chairman.

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

Public Rental Housing

As at December 2012, about 2.1 million people, or 30 per cent of Hong Kong's population, live in the HKHA and Hong Kong Housing Society (HKHS)3 public rental housing. The revised estimated HKHA housing expenditure in 2012-13 is $9.9 billion, or approximately 4.9 per cent of public expenditure. At the end of September 2012, there were about 110,400 general applicants. and 100,000 non-elderly one-person applicants under the Quota and Points System on the HKHA's public rental housing waiting list. The average waiting time for general applicants was 2.7 years.

Rent Policy

The HKHA's long-established policy is to set PRH rents at affordable levels. PRH rents are inclusive of rates, management and maintenance costs, and ranged from $287 to $3,877 with the average monthly rent being $1,541 as at September 2012. Under the existing income-based rent adjustment mechanism, rents may be adjusted upwards or downwards according to changes in tenants' overall household income. PRH rent reviews are conducted every two years. The next review will be conducted in 2014.

Rent Assistance

The HKHA's Rent Assistance Scheme (RAS) helps public housing tenants facing temporary financial difficulties and currently offers eligible tenants rent cuts of 25 or 50 per cent. Families living in newer blocks are required to live there for a period of two years before becoming eligible to apply for assistance. As at December, about 12,300 households were receiving RAS.

Better-off Tenants

Better-off tenants are required to pay higher rents. At the end of December, about 21,900 households were paying higher rents. Tenants who have lived in public housing estates for more than 10 years or more have to declare household income biennially. Those with a household income exceeding the prescribed income limit set by the HKHA or who choose not

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The HKHS is an independent, not-for-profit organisation established in 1948. One of its major functions is to provide subsidised housing to specific target groups at affordable rents.

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