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Following is a question by the Dr Hon Fernando Cheung and a reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, in the Legislative Council today (May 25):
Question:
With an ageing population and a rising population of persons with disabilities (PWDs) in Hong Kong in recent years, there has been a continuous increase in the demand for long-term care services in the community. As at March 31 this year, there were 3 753 and 9 691 persons waiting for various types of day services and residential services provided for PWDs respectively, and nearly 32 000 persons were waiting for various subvented residential care services for the elderly. However, the Government always attributes the cause of its failure to increase such services in the short run to site identification difficulty. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it will, when planning public rental housing and Home Ownership Scheme projects, consider setting aside no less than 10 per cent of the gross floor area for the provision of long-term care and welfare facilities so as to increase the provision of such facilities and allow service users to integrate into the community; if it will, of the implementation timetable and details; if not, the reasons for that;
(2) whether the Government, being the major shareholder of the MTR Corporation Limited (MTRCL), will request the MTRCL, when developing railway residential projects, to set aside no less than 10 per cent of the gross floor area for the provision of long-term care and welfare facilities; if it will, of the implementation timetable and details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(3) whether it will, when selling residential sites in future, consider including in the relevant land leases conditions that the developers must set aside no less than 10 per cent of the gross floor area for the provision of long-term care and welfare facilities; if it will, of the implementation timetable and details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
Acting President,
The Government has all along been adopting a multi-pronged approach to increase the provision of elderly and rehabilitation service facilities, including the construction of residential care homes for the elderly, day care centres or units for the elderly and residential care homes for persons with disabilities, etc. My reply to the question raised by the Dr Hon Fernando Cheung is as follows:
(1) According to the existing mechanism, when a new development area or site is identified as having potential for public housing development, the Planning Department (PlanD) or the Housing Department (HD) will discuss with relevant departments (including the Social Welfare Department (SWD)) and organisations, and consult the District Council on planning for the provision of community facilities (including welfare, education, recreational facilities, etc.) in the public housing project concerned. Under this arrangement, the SWD will explore the need for and possibility of providing welfare facilities in the public housing project at an early stage of the HD's planning for public housing development. In general, the SWD will take into account the needs of the local community, the overall demand for welfare services, the floor area requirements of different welfare facilities, the location and accessibility of the site as well as the advice from all relevant departments on site constraints, development parameters and limitations (including such environmental issues as noise and air quality) in drawing up optimal welfare facilities to meet the service demand arising from such public housing development and also to address the wider community demand. The HD, when considering whether community facilities will be incorporated in a new public housing project, will take into consideration such factors as individual site constraints, feasibility and suitability of the required facilities, demands for various community facilities, funding arrangements involved for the facilities, relevant ordinances, rules and regulations, etc.
Since the existing mechanism enables the optimal use of a public housing site and flexibly meets the community's demands for housing and different kinds of community facilities, the Government has no plan to impose a mandatory requirement that a specified proportion of the floor area of a public housing project be set aside for setting up welfare facilities.
(2) and (3) As regards private development projects (including railway property development projects), the PlanD will assist in identifying suitable sites or projects based on the requests of different Government departments, and include relevant requirements of providing the necessary floor space for Government, Institution or Community facilities (including welfare facilities) in suitable government sale sites or railway property development projects, if this is feasible from the planning and technical perspectives and justified by genuine needs. The existing mechanism is flexible and effective in responding to the various demands of the community for different facilities. As the incorporation of the relevant facilities into private developments depends on various factors as mentioned above, including the overall demand and the suitability of development projects, the Government has no plan to set a mandatory benchmark on providing floor space for welfare facilities in private development projects (including railway property development projects).
I must reiterate that, apart from increasing the welfare facilities (including those for the elderly and rehabilitation services) through the abovementioned mechanisms, the Labour and Welfare Bureau (LWB) and the SWD have also been actively identifying vacant public housing units and vacant schools for conversion into elderly and rehabilitation service facilities, and will continue to seek to make good use of the space of subsidised homes and purchase places of private homes with good quality so as to increase the provision of subsidised services.
In addition, the Government launched the Special Scheme on Privately Owned Sites for Welfare Uses in 2013 to encourage non-governmental organisations to better use the land under their ownership through expansion, redevelopment and new development to provide diversified elderly and rehabilitation services.
The LWB and the SWD will, in collaboration with relevant government departments, continue to make appropriate planning for welfare facilities, including, among others, long-term care facilities.
Ends/Wednesday, May 25, 2016
Issued at HKT 15:24
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