Hong Kong chief government John Lee introduced strikes aimed toward addressing town’s housing affordability disaster, calling it “a difficulty of nice public concern” in an annual coverage deal with on Wednesday. 

One keynote coverage introduced in his speech will look to offer a neater path to sponsored housing for residents beneath the age of 40 amid mounting issues about their skill to get a foothold within the metropolis’s crowded housing market.

Underneath the plan, the Hong Kong Housing Authority will allocate an additional poll quantity to candidates aged under 40 — a transfer that can enhance their possibilities of being chosen for town’s sponsored House Possession Scheme flats.

The federal government may also enhance its quota for the “White Type Secondary Market Scheme“— beneath which secondhand sponsored flats could be purchased and bought and not using a land premium — by 1,500, all of that are reserved for candidates beneath 40. Solely 4,500 households have been eligible for studios beneath the scheme in 2023.

The transfer comes amid reviews and fears that younger Hong Kongers within the metropolis might decline promotions and pay raises for the aim of remaining eligible for public housing somewhat than enter the personal market.

To additional deal with youth housing affordability, the federal government will proceed its Youth Hostel Scheme, which subsidizes non-governmental organizations’ renting of motels and guesthouses to be used as youth hostels.

The 2024 Demographia Worldwide Housing Affordability report ranked town because the least reasonably priced place to discover a dwelling for over a decade. The town’s over 100,000 “shoe-box sized” subdivided flats, which have been linked to issues with well being and security, are sometimes used to drive dwelling this reality. 

Lee stated on Wednesday that town would launch a brand new system for renting subdivided flats, with “substandard” models to be transformed into “Primary Housing Items” that meet new necessities similar to home windows, bogs and a dimension bigger than 86 sq. ft. 

He additionally stated the federal government expects to finish about 9,500 new public housing models subsequent yr, shifting towards a aim of finishing about 30,000 models by 2027-2028.

The present wait time for a public housing unit in Hong Kong is 5.5 years. Based on Lee, the wait time could possibly be shortened to 4.5 years in 2026-2027.

The coverage deal with on Wednesday was Lee’s third in his five-year time period, and it had extra deal with bettering residents’ livelihoods and strengthening town’s economic system than earlier than.

Prior addresses had been extra centered on problems with nationwide safety and post-pandemic restoration measures, with Lee taking up town after a interval of civil unrest that led into the Covid-19 pandemic.