The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Housing Authority:
 
     The Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA)'s Subsidised Housing Committee (SHC) meeting today (December 8) approved rehousing and associated arrangements for the clearance of Shek Lei Interim Housing (SLIH).
 
     "The HA has decided to clear SLIH to make way for public housing development. The target clearance date for SLIH is December 2022. Subject to the Town Planning Board's approval to relax the planning restrictions of the site of SLIH and its adjoining ex-Shek Lei Catholic Primary School, we estimate that the flat production will be about 1 600 units," a spokesman for the HA said.
 
     "The SHC has approved the rehousing and associated arrangements today. At present, about 330 households (about 590 persons) reside in SLIH. Under the prevailing HA policy, for those affected tenants who fulfil the present eligibility criteria for public rental housing (PRH) and interim housing (IH) clearance, they will be offered PRH before the target clearance date, up to a maximum of 12 months in advance through the Anticipatory Housing Scheme (AHS). For those affected households who are not yet due for PRH allocation under the AHS before the clearance date, they will be rehoused to Po Tin Interim Housing (PTIH) in Tuen Mun upon clearance," the spokesman said.
 
     "The sizes of one-person and two-person flats in SLIH are comparatively larger than those of corresponding household flats in PTIH. The SHC agreed to allow the relevant one-person and two-person households of SLIH who need to move to PTIH upon clearance to transfer one grade up to a unit of comparable size. Since there is no such issue for flats of other household sizes, the relevant households will be allocated PTIH units corresponding to their household size," he continued.
 
     "All eligible households will be paid Domestic Removal Allowance, ranging from $10,270 to $30,600, depending on the household size, to help meet part of their moving expenses. In addition, eligible one-person and two-person households may opt to receive Singleton/Doubleton Allowance in lieu of allocation for PRH or IH. The SHC meeting today also endorsed increasing the Singleton/Doubleton Allowance to $79,310 and $96,180 respectively," the spokesman added.
 
     "If households eligible for public housing allocation wish to purchase Home Ownership Scheme (HOS)/Green Form Subsidised Home Ownership Scheme (GSH) flats in lieu of PRH allocation, they will be accorded Green Form status and priority in flat selection in the upcoming HOS/GSH sale exercises of the HA or Subsidised Sale Flats Projects of the Hong Kong Housing Society launched before the target clearance date of SLIH," the spokesman said.
 
     SLIH consists of Block 10 and Block 11 with 1 928 units in total. The two blocks were originally constructed as PRH in the 1960s and converted into IH in 1999 and 1997 respectively. According to the Comprehensive Structural Investigation conducted by the Housing Department in 2015, the two blocks would not be structurally sustainable beyond 2022 without substantial structural repair and strengthening works, rendering it not cost-effective to maintain SLIH beyond that point.
 

Ends/Tuesday, December 8, 2020
Issued at HKT 13:15

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