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The following is issued on behalf of the Housing Authority:
The Housing Authority's (HA) Subsidised Housing Committee (SHC) today (May 15) approved the allocation plan for 2008/09, which will provide 43,800 public rental housing (PRH) flats for eligible families, out of which 28,000 flats will go to the Waiting List (WL) applicants.
"As in the past few years, the WL category will be given the biggest share of the allocation, constituting 64% of the year¡¯s provision. The remaining flats will be allocated to applicants under various categories," the Chairman of the SHC, Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, said.
The 43,800 flats for allocation comprise 25,300 new flats and 18,500 refurbished flats.
In view of the anticipated supply of 31,061 new flats in the Urban District (UB) in the coming three years, the Committee also approved that WL applicants registered before October 1, 2006 will be invited in mid-2008 to opt to change their choice of district to UB if they so wish.
"This relaxation measure will let more applicants have chances to be allocated flats in UB. However, the waiting time may be longer if they opt to live in the urban area, as compared to waiting for a flat in the extended urban or New Territories. We would closely monitor the supply of and demand for urban flats after the relaxation," Professor Cheung said.
A maximum of 2,000 flats will also be allowed for non-elderly one-person WL applicants for 2008/09 as agreed previously by the SHC.
A total of 5,700 flats will be reserved for the Comprehensive Redevelopment, Estate Clearance and Major Repairs Programme for 2008/09 mainly to meet demand arising from the redevelopment of Lower Ngau Tau Kok Estate and the clearance of So Uk Estate.
Six hundred flats will be allowed to cater for rehousing needs to be generated by various clearance programmes, including squatter clearance, Urban Renewal Authority projects and Interim Housing trawling exercises.
"For planning purpose, 2,000 flats have been set aside for the Compassionate Rehousing category. However, this figure is not meant to be the actual ceiling of allocation. Additional flats will be made available to meet extra demand, if recommended by the Social Welfare Department and resources permit," Professor Cheung said.
A total of 6,500 flats have been reserved for various transfer schemes for existing PRH tenants to meet their housing needs, representing an increase of 1,000 flats or 18.2% as compared with the amount of last year. Amongst them, 1,500 flats are set aside for overcrowding relief and living space improvement needs. Any unconsumed flats under this sub-category will be used to supplement the needs of other transfer schemes.
Noting that the allocation plan was devised having regard to the anticipated supply of PRH flats and demand for PRH from various rehousing categories in the coming year, Professor Cheung said that the Authority would closely monitor any change in circumstances.
At the end of March 2008, there was a total of 111,632 valid WL applications, representing an increase of 4.1% as compared with the 107, 257 applications at the end of March 2007.
"We will make every effort to meet our pledge of maintaining the Average Waiting Time at around three years for ordinary PRH applicants," he added.
Ends/Thursday, May 15, 2008
Issued at HKT 18:40
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