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The following is issued on behalf of the Housing Authority:
Public rental housing (PRH) tenants and Interim Housing licensees with the exception of those paying additional rent or licence fees will be granted a one-off rent remission for the month of February 2007.
In light of the recommendations of the Ad Hoc Committee on Review of Domestic Rent Policy endorsed by the Housing Authority (HA) at its meeting today (November 27), the Administration will propose suitable amendments to the Housing Ordinance to remove the 10% median rent-to-income ratio (MRIR) cap so that public housing rents can be adjusted both upwards and downwards.
"Since any long-term rent reduction should only be introduced after a more viable and rational rent adjustment framework has been put in place, the rent remission is able to address strong demands and expectations among some of the PRH tenants for the HA to take immediate action to remit or reduce rent following conclusion of the judicial review cases and the current rent policy review," a spokesman for the HA said.
The rent remission will result in revenue foregone of $963 million for the HA.
Explaining details of the rent remission arrangements, the spokesman said that tenants and licensees who had yet to occupy their flats for a full month would be granted rent remission on a pro-rata basis.
"Tenants or licensees receiving Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) will have the corresponding amount equivalent to the rent so remitted deducted from their CSSA allowance," the spokesman said.
Earlier, Members also endorsed an across-the-board rent reduction of 11.6% to provide a new starting point upon which the new rent adjustment mechanism will operate.
Ends/Monday, November 27, 2006
Issued at HKT 19:06
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