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The following is issued on behalf of the Community Care Fund Secretariat:
The Community Care Fund (CCF) will start verifying eligibility of and accepting new applications from three-person households for the "One-off Living Subsidy for Low-income Households Not Living in Public Housing and Not Receiving CSSA" assistance programme from tomorrow (March 2). The amount of subsidy for three-person households is $11,000.
Beneficiaries should currently be renting accommodation in private housing, industrial or commercial buildings on a monthly basis (or for longer tenures); or renting bedspaces offered under the Home Affairs Department's Singleton Hostel Programme; or residing in temporary housing; or living on board vessels; or homeless persons. Their monthly income must not exceed the specified limits. They should not be receiving Comprehensive Social Security Assistance or own any property in Hong Kong. For those renting accommodation in private housing, industrial or commercial buildings, their monthly rent should not exceed the specified rental limits. The income and rental limits for three-person households are $19,820 and $9,910 respectively.
Eligible households who benefited from the first round of the programme from December 2013 to August 2014 are not required to submit applications again. Three-person households will receive notification for confirming eligibility from the CCF Secretariat (the Secretariat) early this month. Households who meet the eligibility criteria of the programme should complete the reply slip with appendices attached to the notification and return it to the Secretariat to confirm eligibility before August 31. Upon verification of the eligibility of the household, the Secretariat will send notification of the eligibility verification result to the household. The Secretariat will disburse the subsidy to eligible households according to their chosen method under the first launch of the programme (i.e. either through direct payment into a bank account or by order cheque).
Other eligible three-person households should submit new applications to service units from tomorrow. Households with elderly people only (i.e. all members in the household are aged 65 or above), households with young people only (i.e. all members in the household are aged 24 or below) or homeless people can submit applications to elderly service units, youth service units or service units accepting applications from homeless people respectively. The Secretariat and service units will vet each application, including verifying eligibility, checking the supporting documents submitted, and conducting visits/home visits and income tests on selected applications. The Secretariat will issue notifications of application results to applicants after vetting the applications concerned and disburse the subsidy to eligible households through direct payment into a bank account or by order cheque.
The programme was relaunched on January 2 to relieve financial pressure on low-income households. The Secretariat started verifying eligibility of and accepting new applications from one-person and two-person households on January 2 and February 2 respectively. As at February 27, the Secretariat has disbursed the subsidy to around 7 900 eligible households (around 8 000 persons), involving about $32 million.
The CCF will verify the eligibility of and accept new applications from four-or-more-person households from April 1 to August 31.
For details of the programme, please visit the CCF website (www.communitycarefund.hk) or call the programme hotline on 2180 6666.
Ends/Sunday, March 1, 2015
Issued at HKT 11:30
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