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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 four-or-more-person households for the third launch of the One-off Living Subsidy for Low-income Households Not Living in Public Housing and Not Receiving CSSA assistance programme from tomorrow (April 1).
The programme aims to relieve the financial pressure on low-income households. The amount of subsidy is $4,000 for one-person households, $8,000 for two-person households, $11,000 for three-person households, $13,000 for four-person households and $14,000 for five-or-more-person households.
Beneficiaries should currently be renting accommodation in private housing, industrial or commercial buildings on a monthly basis (or for longer tenures), or renting bedspaces offered under the Home Affairs Department's Singleton Hostel Programme, or residing in temporary housing, or living on board vessels, or homeless persons. Their monthly income must not exceed the specified limits. They should not be receiving Comprehensive Social Security Assistance or own any property in Hong Kong. For those renting accommodation in private housing, industrial or commercial buildings, their monthly rent should not exceed the specified rental limits. The specified income and rental limits are as follows:
Household size Household income Rental
(persons) limit ($) limit ($)
(if applicable)
-------------- ---------------- ---------------
1 10,100 5,050
2 16,140 8,070
3 21,075 10,538
4 26,475 13,238
5 29,050 14,525
6 or above 32,540 16,270
Eligible households that benefited from the relaunch of the programme from January to August 2015 can benefit again, among which four-or-more-person households will receive notification for confirming eligibility from the CCF Secretariat starting from early April. Households that 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 on or 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 arrange to disburse the subsidy to eligible households according to their chosen method under the relaunched programme (i.e. either through direct payment into a bank account or by order cheque).
Other eligible four-or-more-person households should submit new applications to service units from tomorrow onwards. 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 the 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.
Since the third launch of the programme on January 4, the Secretariat has, as at March 30, disbursed the subsidy to around 22 000 eligible households (around 35 000 persons), involving about $138 million.
The CCF Secretariat has verified the eligibility of households who benefited from the relaunch of the programme and accepted new applications in phases according to household size from January. After verifying the eligibility of or accepting new applications from four-or-more-person households starting from tomorrow, all eligible households (irrespective of household size) can confirm eligibility or submit new applications under the programme. The application period will last until August 31.
For details of the programme, please visit the CCF website (www.communitycarefund.hk) or call the programme hotline on 2180 6666.
Ends/Thursday, March 31, 2016
Issued at HKT 11:31
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