Overview of Transitional Housing

The Government has been pressing ahead with Transitional Housing (TH) development. As at end February 2026, about 20 900 TH units1 have been made available for application by those in need, and about 220 units are expected to be completed in the first half of this year. Given the increase in the allocation of public rental housing, the turn-over rate of TH units has become higher, and the unit usage rates of many projects have reached over 140%.

Depending on the actual circumstances of individual TH projects, the Housing Bureau has been providing the operating organisations with flexibility in adjusting the allocation ratio between Category A and B tenants. As at end February 2026, approval has already been given to 29 TH projects for adjusting their tenant ratio to 60:40, 50:50 or 20:80, in order to assist those who have waited for traditional Public Rental Housing for less than three years but with imminent housing needs, viz. “Category B tenants”, thereby utilising the TH resources more prudently and assisting more citizens to improve their living conditions.

Starting from 28 October 2024, the Housing Bureau allows individual TH projects to apply for adjusting the allocation ratio between Category A and B tenants to the following maximum ratio when necessary:
(i) for projects in the urban areas: adjusting the original allocation ratio between Category A and B tenants from 80:20 to 70:30, or further to 60:40 when necessary;
(ii) for projects in the extended urban areas: adjusting the original allocation ratio between Category A and B tenants from 80:20 to 70:30, or further to 50:50 when necessary; and
(iii) for projects in the New Territories: adjusting the previous maximum allocation ratio between Category A and B tenants from 50:50 to 20:80 at most.

In addition, in view of the implementation of the Basic Housing Unit (BHU) regulatory regime starting from 1 March 2026, residents of subdivided units (SDUs) may be affected due to the need for alteration works in SDUs for obtaining BHU recognition, or the enforcement actions carried out by the Government upon expiry of the 12-month registration period (i.e. from 1 March 2027). Some of these residents may not be able to identify suitable accommodation within a short period of time. If the residents concerned are eligible to apply for Light Public Housing or transitional housing (TH), the projects which are currently in operation and coming on stream can provide them with sufficient accommodation options. However, the Government understands that some residents may not fulfil the relevant prevailing application requirements, e.g. income/asset exceeding the limits. Therefore, a new type of “Category C tenants” for TH is created starting from 3 October 2025, in order to provide assistance to those SDU residents affected by alteration works or enforcement actions under the BHU regulatory regime and have imminent short-term re-housing need.


Note 1: The number of units includes both the projects in operation and those which have ceased operation. Projects which have ceased operation include - (i) the Community Housing Movement (951 units in total); (ii) some projects under the Pilot Scheme (697 units in total); (iii) “Nam Cheong 220” (89 units); and (iv) “LST Housing” at Sung Wong Toi Road, To Kwa Wan (110 units). In other words, the total number of TH units currently in operation is around 19 100.


Task Force on Transitional Housing

As one of the six new housing initiatives announced by the Chief Executive on 29 June 2018, a task force on transitional housing (Task Force) has been established under the then Transport and Housing Bureau (THB)2 to actively assist and facilitate various short-term initiatives proposed and implemented by the community with a view to increasing the supply of transitional housing.

The Task Force has assisted and facilitated a number of transitional housing projects proposed and operated by NGOs, including social housing in privately owned vacant residential buildings and vacant government premises, other initiatives by different NGOs including proposals of using “Modular Integrated Construction” method to construct transitional housing on vacant government lands and privately owned lands, or converting vacant non-residential buildings (such as privately owned vacant school premises or industrial buildings) to transitional housing.


Note 2: The Transport and Housing Bureau (THB) was split into two policy bureaux, namely the Transport and Logistics Bureau (TLB) and the Housing Bureau (HB) with effect from 1 July 2022.