Housing chief rejects ‘alarmist, pessimistic’ sentiment in Guardian report on Hong Kong’s ‘coffin’ homes
Hong Kong Free Press
Hong Kong’s housing minister has rejected the “alarmist and pessimistic sentiment” in a report by the UK’s Guardian, which suggested that city’s proposed subdivided housing regulations had “run into trouble.”
The newspaper’s report, titled “Doomed to fail? Hong Kong’s attempt to tackle ‘shoebox housing’ runs into trouble,” highlighted the exclusion of “coffin homes” from a proposed law that aims to regulate subdivided housing in the city.
Coffin homes — wooden cubicles large enough to fit a single mattress — are regulated and effectively legalised by a separate, existing law that was passed during the colonial era, in 1994. Hong Kong has proposed that such bedspaces be excluded from the scope of the new rules “so as to avoid duplicate regulation.”
The proposed regulations for subdivided housing are currently at the consultation stage, ending on February 10.
Aside from last Friday’s letter to the Guardian, Secretary for Housing Winnie Ho also wrote to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on January 3 over a similar article on coffin homes. She did not condemn or reject any claims made in the ABC report, but – instead – laid out the government efforts to tackle the housing crisis.
The Guardian article, dated January 3, quoted Deputy Director of the Society for Community Organization Sze Lai-shan, as saying that eradicating coffin homes by extending the proposed law to bedspaces would only work if the government had the public housing resources and a good enough resettlement policy.
‘Destined to succeed’
Chief Executive John Lee first floated the plan to set minimum living standards for subdivided housing in his 2023 Policy Address. Last October, Lee vowed to pass a law to phase out subdivided flats smaller than eight square metres and ensure they have windows and a toilet.
Units that meet the minimum standards, as well as those brought up to par, would be redesignated as “Basic Housing Units” once registered with the authorities and certified by professionals.
In her letter to the Guardian, housing chief Ho “strongly refuted the alarmist and pessimistic sentiment.”
See also: The infamous ‘coffin homes’ that Hong Kong’s new housing reforms won’t touch
She added: “As for so-called ‘cage homes’ and other small bedspaces, the Bedspace Apartments Ordinance enacted in 1994 mandates safety standards and sanitary provisions and regulates bedspace apartments to ensure the safety of occupants.”
Ho did not elaborate on what amounted to “alarmist” or “pessimistic” sentiment in the Guardian’s report. But she added that the Home Affairs Department, which oversees bedspaces in the city, has taken “strict enforcement action” against unlicensed bedspace apartments, with two cases prosecuted and convicted last September.
The ordinance requires owners to license flats if they operate 12 or more bedspaces, but landlords have been circumventing that regulation since the law was passed in 1994 by having 11 sleeping spaces instead.
She added: “I am confident that our multi-pronged housing strategy is destined to succeed, and that it could provide a model for many other cities around the world tackling similar housing issues.”
Ho also listed a slate of other measures aimed at easing the city’s housing crisis, including the temporary transitional housing and light public housing initiatives designed to meet short-term housing demands for residents who are eligible for a public rental flat.
The authorities are aware that about 40 per cent of 110,000 subdivided units in Hong Kong are currently in the queue for a public rental flat, said Ho.
The housing minister had previously ruled out granting queue priority to subdivided unit tenants who lose their homes under the proposed regulations, saying that such a move would incentivise people to move into the worst subdivided units.
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