ENG-2012 — Page 229

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Housing

to declare their income have to pay additional rent. Households with total household income and net assets both exceeding the prescribed income and asset limits, or those who choose not to declare their household assets are required to move out.

Estate Clearance

The clearance of the domestic portion of Block 22, Tung Tau (1) Estate, was completed in September 2012 and some 1,700 people from 850 families were rehoused. So Uk Estate's Phase 2 clearance was completed in November, with some 6,400 people from 2,400 families rehoused. Clearance of Blocks 1, 2, 3 and 12, Pak Tin Estate started in April and is scheduled to be completed in April 2014. Of around 2,900 people from 900 families who have to move out, about 600 people from 130 families had been rehoused by the end of November 2012.

Sustainable Public Housing Stock

The HKHA adopts a life-cycle maintenance strategy to keep its public housing stock. economically, socially and environmentally stable. Under its Total Maintenance Scheme (TMS) introduced in 2006, flats are checked and arrangements made on the spot for minor repairs or improvements. Repairs and improvements were made to 177 estates in the first cycle. The second cycle was launched in 2011 and TMS inspections commenced in 27 estates in 2012.

Estates over, or approaching, 40 years old are monitored under the HKHA's Comprehensive Structural Investigation Programme to ensure they are safe to live in and are economically sustainable.

The HKHA has an ongoing 'Estate Improvement Programme' to provide good quality service and a good living environment for its tenants. It also has a lift installation programme to improve accessibility in external areas and buildings that have no lifts.

Allocation

In 2012, about 25,700 public rental housing flats were allocated to various rehousing categories by the HKHA. About 12,400 of these were new flats and about 13,300 were refurbished flats. Of the total, about 58 per cent were allocated to applicants on the PRH waiting list, 24 per cent to sitting tenants for transfers (including overcrowding relief), about 7 per cent to families affected by estate clearances, about 3 per cent to junior civil servants, and the remainder to those affected by squatter clearances, removal of rooftop structures, fire, natural disasters and emergencies, and compassionate cases recommended by the Social Welfare Department, and other applicants.

Save for non-elderly one-person applicants, flats are allocated to applicants on the waiting list. according to their registration priority and their choice of districts. For non-elderly one-person applicants, allocation is based on a Quota and Points System in which priority is determined by the applicant's age at the time of registration, waiting time and whether he or she is already living in PRH. All applicants need to meet the HKHA's residence requirement and must satisfy the Comprehensive Means Test and the Domestic Property Test to qualify.

To speed up the allocation of some of the less popular flats, the HKHA pools these flats for selection by eligible applicants on the waiting list under the Express Flat Allocation Scheme. About 1,500 households were allocated public rental housing flats under this scheme in 2012.

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