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The following is issued on behalf of the Housing Authority:
The Housing Authority's (HA) Subsidised Housing Committee (SHC) today (December 29) endorsed a proposal to relax the eligibility criteria for rent assistance under the Rent Assistance Scheme (RAS) for tenants in financial hardship.
The eligibility criteria for non-elderly households will be relaxed to bring them in line with those applicable to elderly households.
The rent-to-income ratio threshold will be lowered from exceeding 25% to 20% or the income eligibility criteria to be increased from below 50% to below 60% of the Waiting List Income Limit.
At today's meeting, members also endorsed that:
* the enhanced RAS should be extended to all PRH households with a 25% rent reduction for these groups of eligible households;
* the existing policy in granting a 50% rent reduction to households meeting the existing eligibility criteria should remained unchanged; and
* the three years' residence requirement for households living in older block types will be lifted.
"Applications will be invited in February with a view to fully implementing the enhanced RAS on March 1, 2006," the Chairman of the SHC, Mr. Ng Shui-lai said, adding that this would bring the number of eligible households for RAS up by 33,800 to a total of about 148,000.
"Including the 131,000 Comprehensive Social Security Allowance households, a total of 278,800 PRH households will be eligible to receive some sort of assistance from the government or the HA in the payment of rent," Mr Ng said.
He stressed that this represented a sizable 44% over the total number of PRH households.
Mr Ng added that the SHC members had considered various rent relief proposals including a one-off rent waiver to all PRH tenants but considered that a targeted approach of enhanced RAS to the needy families was more equitable and meaningful.
The committee also noted the urgent need to formulate a more viable, sustainable and flexible rent adjustment mechanism.
"In the long run, new mechanism for adjustment of PRH rents will be introduced following public consultation on the subject, which will commence in early 2006," Mr Ng added.
The committee also supported implementation of three improvement projects at a total cost of about $688 million to enhance the living environment of PRH estates.
With 729 out of 884 having been replumbed, the HA plans to advance the replumbling works to the remaining 155 blocks in 38 estates over four years.
Lift modernisation will be carried out in 31 estates over the next five years. Following the completion of technical feasibility studies, HA will, in principle, provide additional lifts in older estates and install lifts in those estates currently without lift service.
Condensation drain pipes for air-conditioners will be installed in 334 blocks in 78 estates over the next four to five years. The improvement works will be carried out to tie in with decoration of the estates where practical.
"Having considered a series of measures to bring improvement to the living environment in PRH estates, the committee noted they are only now made possible because HA is no longer under the threat of an immediate hefty rent reduction as a result of the outcome of the judicial review on public housing rents," Mr Ng added.
Ends/Thursday, December 29, 2005
Issued at HKT 15:21
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