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Housing

The Housing Authority's policy is to set affordable PRH rents. Its rents cover rates and management and maintenance costs, and ranged from $485 to $5,657 (with an average of $2,274) per month at year end. Rent adjustments are based on changes in tenants' overall household incomes. The rents are reviewed every two years, with the most recent review completed in July 2020.

Tenants facing temporary financial difficulties are granted rent reductions of 25 or 50 per cent under the Housing Authority's Rent Assistance Scheme. At year end, about 23,300 households were recipients.

To ease the financial burden of PRH tenants during the pandemic, the government paid the rent in January and July for lower income tenants living in public rental units of the Housing Authority and Hong Kong Housing Society, benefiting about 790,000 households. Furthermore, when the Housing Authority endorsed the 2020 PRH rent review in July, it also provided rent waivers for PRH tenants in September 2020 and September 2021.

Better-off Tenants

The Housing Authority Well-off Tenants Policies help focus PRH resources on those with more pressing housing needs by levying additional rent on better-off tenants. At year end, about 32,000 households paid additional rent.

Estate Clearance

Six PRH blocks under the Housing Authority are targeted for clearance. Blocks 9, 10 and 11 in Pak Tin Estate, Sham Shui Po, are to be cleared by November 2021, and Block 13 is to be cleared by February 2022, involving about 2,280 households and 10 commercial tenants. Mei Po and Mei Tung Houses in Mei Tung Estate, Wong Tai Sin, are to be cleared by April 2021, affecting around 630 households and 26 commercial tenants. Rehousing of the affected households is under way.

Sustainable Public Housing Stock

The Housing Authority adopts a life-cycle maintenance strategy to keep its public housing stock economically, socially and environmentally sound. Estates that are 40 years old or more are monitored to ensure structural safety and financial sustainability. The authority also inspects. conditions within PRH flats and makes minor repairs or improvements on the spot.

Housing estates are rejuvenated and their facilities upgraded to meet tenants' changing needs, including lift modernisation programmes, barrier-free access improvements, recreation facilities enhancement, and renovation of the building exteriors and common areas.

5 'Well-off Tenants Policies' is an umbrella term for the Housing Authority's Housing Subsidy Policy and the Policy on Safeguarding Rational Allocation of Public Housing Resources. Households that have lived in PRH for 10 years must make declarations every two years. PRH households with income exceeding the prescribed limits pay additional rent. Those who own private domestic property in Hong Kong, or whose family income exceeds five times the prevailing Public Rental Housing Income Limits (PRHILs), or whose net household assets exceed 100 times the prevailing PRHILS, or who refuse to make a declaration, must vacate their PRH units.

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