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Following is a question by the Hon Lee Cheuk-yan and an oral reply by the Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands, Mr Michael Suen, in the Legislative Council today (June 14):
Question:
The three-month public consultation conducted by the Housing Authority on the review on the rent policy for public housing concluded last Friday. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether it will first introduce rent reduction for public housing and then review the rent adjustment mechanism, as proposed in the motion passed by the Panel on Housing of this Council at its meeting on May 25; and
(b) given that the authorities' proposals on the rent policy for public housing have not received wide support, whether new options will be introduced for another round of public consultation?
Reply,
Madam President,
My reply to the two parts of the question is as follows:
(a) As I made it clear at the meeting of the Legislative Council¡¯s Panel on Housing on May 26, we should embrace a comprehensive and holistic approach in considering how the rents of public rental housing (PRH) are to be adjusted. The current public consultation on review of domestic rent policy aims to establish a rent adjustment mechanism that is practicable and correlates with tenants¡¯ affordability. To this end, the Housing Authority¡¯s Ad Hoc Committee responsible for the review has proposed a rent adjustment mechanism that makes reference to the movements in either consumer price index or tenants¡¯ household income as a basis to determine when PRH rents should be adjusted and the extent of such adjustments.
We fully subscribe to the view that for the proposed rent adjustment mechanism to operate fairly and effectively, it is necessary to identify a rent level that is considered appropriate and acceptable to the community to provide a new starting point. In our quest for establishing such a rent adjustment mechanism and an appropriate rent level, there does not exist a question as to which issue should first be addressed, as we believe both should be looked into concurrently.
The Ad Hoc Committee will carefully consider the views collected, and make recommendations regarding the rent adjustment mechanism as well as the rent level upon which the new mechanism should operate.
(b) The public consultation on the review of domestic rent policy concluded on June 9. During the three-month consultation, we received a wide array of public opinions through various channels, such as the Legislative Council, District Councils, local forums, meetings with resident groups and academics, written submissions and telephone opinion survey, etc.
The issues covered by this review are very extensive. And so are their implications. As all the issues identified in the consultation paper are controversial in varying degrees, it seems improbable to expect that a consensus could be forged among different strata of the community on each and every proposal. Nonetheless, our preliminary analysis shows that the public is supportive of the most important reform proposal put forward in this review, which is to establish an objective, rational and practicable rent adjustment mechanism. The majority of the public opinions is also in favour of adopting changes in tenants¡¯ household income as a basis for adjusting PRH rents. Admittedly, views from various sources are more divided on other secondary issues, such as differential rents. But overall, different quarters in the community, especially public housing tenants and resident groups, have fully and clearly made known their views and positions through the consultation exercise.
The primary task of the Ad Hoc Committee now is to further collate and analyse in greater depth the views received, and to submit its recommendations and report to the Housing Authority as soon as possible. We believe it is unnecessary to put forward any new proposal for further consultation. Obviously, in the course of putting the recommendations into practise, particularly if this involves amendments to the existing legislation, we would continue to maintain a close dialogue with Members through the existing consultation channels, including this Council and the Housing Authority.
Ends/Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Issued at HKT 11:55
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