In order to reflect more comprehensively the effectiveness of the Government in improving the living conditions of the public through providing different types of subsidised rental housing, the Chief Executive announced in 2022 Policy Address that a new index of “Composite Waiting Time for Subsidised Rental Housing” (CWT) will be introduced to calculate the composite waiting time* of public rental housing (PRH) general applicants for receiving the first offer of PRH or Light Public Housing (LPH) units.
The methodology in calculating CWT is largely the same as that of the average waiting time (AWT) for PRH. PRH general applicants (i.e. family and elderly one-person applicants) that were housed to PRH or LPH in the past 12 months will be surveyed, and the average time taken between their registration for PRH and the first offer for PRH or LPH will then be calculated.
As at end-December 2023, the CWT for PRH general applicants is 5.8 years.1
*Waiting time basically refers to the time taken between registration for PRH and first flat offer, excluding any frozen period during the application period (e.g. when the applicant has not yet fulfilled the residence requirement; the applicant has requested to put his/her application on hold pending arrival of family members for family reunion; the applicant is imprisoned, etc).
To alleviate the hardship of the inadequately housed families that have been waiting for PRH for a long time, the Government has been developing transitional housing in the past few years through better use of vacant land and premises, the long-term development plan of which is not yet fixed or will not be implemented in the near future, to provide short-term accommodation to those in need. The sites identified are set to deliver over 21 000 transitional housing units, exceeding the original target of 20 000 units. About 12 200 units have been put into service by end of February 2024. Another 7 700 units or so are expected to be available in 2024 and the final 1 200 units will be completed in the first quarter of 2025.
Besides, the co-ordination and application processes for transitional housing are improving continuously. Following the central common application form introduced in June 2023, “TH-E” - the Central and Unified Platform for Transitional Housing was launched by the Housing Bureau in September 2023 to allow application for transitional housing online. Since the implementation of the central form and “TH-E” initiative, Housing Bureau has received about 14 000 applications for transitional housing by the end of February 2024.
As announced in the Chief Executive’s 2022 Policy Address, the Government need to fill the short-term gap of public housing supply at the soonest in order to improve the living conditions and quality of life of people living in inadequate housing as soon as possible. In this connection, the Government will make use of government and private land, the long-term development plan of which will not be implemented in the near future, and adopt standardised simple design and the Modular Integrated Construction approach, as well as utilise vacant school premises to build about 30 000 LPH units before 2027-28. LPH will mainly cater for applicants who have been on the waiting list for traditional public rental housing for three years or more, with priority given to family applicants.
LPH projects are developed in two batches. Construction of the first batch of LPH projects, providing about 17 000 LPH units, commenced in December 2023 and will be completed in phases by the first quarter of 2025 at the earliest. For the second batch of LPH projects, providing about 13 000 LPH units, funding was approved by Finance Committee of the Legislative Council in February 2024.
In respect of operation and management, tenders for the operation and management contract of the first LPH project at Yau Pok Road, Yuen Long were invited on 1 March 2024. The scope of the contract mainly covers occupant management, property management, daily maintenance, as well as the provision of social services, and the management and operation of ancillary facilities, etc. Regarding LPH application, details will be announced in the second quarter of 2024.
For the AWT for PRH, please refer to the relevant webpage on the Hong Kong Housing Authority’s website.
1 As the LPH units are being developed, the figure is the same as the AWT for PRH general applicants of the same period.