Transcript of remarks by CS at media session (with video)
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Reporter: Mr Cheung, but when there are people who actually never sought help from SWD (Social Welfare Department), when this family, as you know, never sought help from SWD, how can the government services reach them?
Chief Secretary for Administration: Very good question. That's why we will get to the bottom of the story and interview the persons concerned, including the two helpers, to find out what exactly has gone wrong and why did the family not approach the Social Welfare Department for assistance in the first place. So we need public education and also at the same time we need to widely publicise our expanded services in future so that families concerned know where to get help if necessary.
Reporter: Mr Cheung, are these units, there are a hundred under this scheme and a couple hundred more in the other, the latest one from the social service, are these too little or, like, just a tip of the iceberg in terms of helping ease the housing issues in Hong Kong?
Chief Secretary for Administration: Well, certainly, certainly the responsibility for providing housing, public housing in particular, still rests with the Government, no doubt about it. But we welcome supplementary efforts from these very specific spirited organisations helping the Government to ease the short-term problems facing many grass-root citizens of Hong Kong. So the project itself is a highly commendable one. In fact, it's really a pioneer in that particular sense, now that we've got the Council of Social Service following suit. We welcome, in fact, more players in the field to provide more temporary short-term affordable housing for people in need as a short-term measure, pending, for example, moving into public housing permanently.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Monday, October 9, 2017
Issued at HKT 16:04
Issued at HKT 16:04
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Audio / Video
CS meets the media