In terms of public housing supply, about 30,000 "simple public housing" units will be built in the next five years. Combined with the supply of traditional public housing, the overall public housing supply will increase by 50% in the next five years, including 12,000 public housing units under the "Public Housing Early Re-housing Scheme", which will increase the number of units from 105,000 to 158,000.
As of the end of June this year, the average waiting time for public housing for general applicants was six years. In the Policy Address, the Government pointed out that it would "cap" the waiting time for public housing and set the target of reducing the overall waiting time from six years to four and a half years within four years if the "simple public housing" is included in the calculation.
What exactly is "simple public housing"? How does it differ from traditional public housing?
It is a "simple public housing" project that uses government and private land that has no development plan in the near future and is built quickly with a standard simple design and "assembly".
The Architectural Services Department will be responsible for the design and construction of "simple public housing" based on traditional public housing, and will consider handing over the management to social welfare organizations (NGOs) in the future.
According to the preliminary design of the 4 to 5-person units uploaded by the Secretary for Housing, Mr. Ho Wing Yin, on the social networking site, the units will provide separate toilets, cooking space, air conditioners and hot water heaters, and the layout of the units will be determined by the project.
In terms of size, "simple public housing" is finer than traditional public housing. The former has an area of about 10 to 31 square meters (i.e. 107 to 333 square feet) and will be prioritized for family applications, but will still provide units for 1 to 2 people.
The latter, on the other hand, has a size ranging from 14.1 to 36.1 square meters (about 151 to 388 square feet), with a per capita allocation of at least 7 square meters (75 square feet).
How do you apply for a flat?
According to the news, "simple public housing" is for people who have been waiting for traditional public housing for 3 years or more. Eligible people will receive a letter from the Housing Department inviting them to apply for the flats, and they are expected to live in the flats for 5 years before they can go straight to traditional public housing.
If they have not been allocated a flat by the end of the tenancy period, they will be allocated a different project as far as possible.
The rent of "simple public housing" is lower than that of traditional public housing in the same district, and is initially considered to be calculated at a 10% discount with reference to new public housing in the same district.
For example, the current rent of a 300-square-foot new public housing unit in Yuen Long is about $1,760, which means that the rent of a "simple public housing unit" is $1,580.
It is undeniable that the emergence of "simple public housing" can help the grassroots and is a great improvement to the people living in sub-divided units.
However, if we look deeper, the concept of "simple public housing" is basically the same as that of transitional housing, so if we use it to calculate the waiting time for public housing, we are suspected of "making up the numbers".
To be fair, it is meaningless to include 30,000 units under the "Simple Housing Scheme" and 12,000 units under the "Public Housing Early Re-housing Scheme" in the calculation of the combined Waiting Time Target, which in essence does not really shorten the Waiting Time.
