雙語社評齊齊聽

[英語 (足本收聽)] Presented by Dr CHAN, Weng-kit Danny, Lecturer of Hong Kong Community College, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

[普通話 (足本收聽)] Presented by Dr PENG, Chien-hua Eva, Lecturer of Hong Kong Community College, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

The Housing Authority (HA) has tightened its Well-off Tenants Policies in public housing, requiring tenants to declare whether they own residential properties in Hong Kong every two years. It has also taken measures to curb the "hereditary" transfer of public housing tenancies. Public housing is a precious public resource. Hundreds of thousands of grassroots citizens have had to wait for years before being assigned a unit. The authorities have the responsibility to crack down on the abuse of public housing. Tightening the Well-off Tenants Policies and curbing the hereditary transfer of tenancies to ensure the reasonable and fair allocation of public resources is a matter of principle that the authorities' action is long overdue.

[ENG audio 1]

A homicide case that happened earlier has exposed loopholes in Hong Kong's public housing policy. It was revealed that one of the suspects had been able to buy a Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) flat as a "Green Form Status" holder, having purchased a luxury property the previous year. The incident has once again led to discussions about the misuse of public housing resources by well-off tenants.

[ENG audio 2]

Following the HA approval of the tightening of the eligibility criteria for Green Form Status holders' application for purchasing HOS flats late last month, the HA's Subsidised Housing Committee met yesterday (24 May) and adopted three suggestions to combat the abuse of public housing, including: 1) tightening the policy for well-off tenants, requiring all tenants to declare every two years whether they own residential properties in Hong Kong — as opposed to the current requirement that they have to do so only after living in the unit for 10 years; 2) tightening the policy for the addition of family members, only allowing the tenant to add the name of one adult offspring to reduce the hereditary transfer of tenancies; 3) tightening the Marking Scheme and increasing the points to be deducted for various types of violation. If 16 points are deducted within two years, the tenancy will be terminated. The three new measures will come into effect from October.

[ENG audio 3]

The supply of public housing units has outstripped demand, and the average waiting time for general applicants once exceeded 6 years. Although the figure has fallen recently, applicants still have to wait for 5.3 years. It is the government's responsibility to ensure that precious public resources are allocated fairly and help those who truly need them. The misuse of public housing is a long-standing problem. The lax policy for well-off tenants has even been under constant criticism. Passing by parking lots of public housing estates, people can sometimes see luxury cars, and there is reason to believe that many of them belong to public housing tenants.

[ENG audio 4]

Under the current system, most well-off public housing tenants pay one and a half or two times the amount of the rent, and there are only over a hundred "super-rich tenants" involved in Fixed Term Licences. The HA said that it has no plans to tighten the criteria for well-off tenants at the moment, and at this stage it is difficult to estimate how many units will be freed up each year after the new measures are implemented.

[ENG audio 5]

With the serious shortage of public housing in Hong Kong, the tightening of the Well-off Tenants Policies will help speed up the turnover of public housing units. However, for the hundreds of thousands of grassroots citizens waiting to be allocated a unit, this will only be a drop in the bucket. Even if the number of tenants moving out is more than expected after the implementation of the new measures, how the rise in the number of well-off people buying or renting properties impacts the real estate market and property prices, is also deserving of attention.

[ENG audio 6]

After all, there is only one solution to the land and housing problem in Hong Kong, which is to speed up land creation for housing construction. The tightening of the Well-off Tenants Policies in public housing is only about the fair allocation of resources and cannot solve the problem of the housing shortage.

[ENG audio 7]

收緊富戶政策為公平 增加公屋供應須加快

房委會收緊公屋富戶政策，租戶須每兩年申報一次是否在港持有住宅物業；同時採取措施，減少公屋「世襲」。公屋是珍貴公共資源，數以十萬計基層市民苦候上樓多年，當局有責任打擊公屋濫用情况。收緊富戶政策和遏抑世襲，確保公共資源分配合理公道，這是原則問題，當局早應為之。

[PTH audio 1]

早前一宗兇殺案，揭示本港公營房屋政策存在漏洞，有涉案者被揭購入豪宅後，翌年仍能以公屋「綠表人士」身分買入居屋單位。事件再度引起有關富戶濫用公屋資源的討論。

[PTH audio 2]

房委會繼上月底通過收緊綠表申請購買居屋資格後，房委會資助房屋小組昨天開會，通過3項打擊濫用公屋建議，包括：1）收緊公屋富戶政策，原本住滿10年才要申報是否在港擁有住宅物業，日後將收緊至所有住戶每兩年申報一次；2）收緊加戶政策，只容許戶主加入一名成年子女的名字，減少世襲；3）收緊扣分制，提高多種違規行為的扣分幅度，兩年扣滿16分，將終止租約。3項新措施將於10月起實施。

[PTH audio 3]

公屋單位供不應求，一般申請者平均輪候時間，一度突破6年，儘管近期有所回落，仍然要等5.3年。政府有責任確保如此珍貴的公共資源，得到公平分配，幫助真正有需要的人。公屋濫用問題存在多時，富戶政策過於寬鬆，更是屢遭詬病，市民路經公共屋邨停車場，不時可見名車、靚車，有理由相信當中不少均屬於公屋租戶。

[PTH audio 4]

現行制度下，大部分公屋富戶都是交倍半或雙倍租金，涉及暫准居住的「超級富戶」只有百多伙。房委會表示，暫時無計劃收緊富戶條件，現階段難以估計新措施落實後，每年可騰空多少單位。

[PTH audio 5]

本港公營房屋嚴重短缺，收緊富戶政策，有助加快公屋流轉，但對於數以十萬計等待上樓的基層市民而言，不過是杯水車薪；即使新措施生效後，公屋富戶遷出數字比想像多，多了富戶要置業租屋，對於房地產市道和樓價有何影響，同樣需要留意。

[PTH audio 6]

說到底，香港土地房屋問題，解決之道只得一個，就是加快造地建屋，收緊公屋富戶政策，只為公平分配資源，無法處理房屋供應緊缺問題。

[PTH audio 7]

明報社評 2023.05.25