2025-02-21 28Hse Editor
The Housing Authority announced earlier the latest waiting time for public rental housing (PRH) flats. As of the end of September this year, the average waiting time for general rehoused PRH applicants in the past 12 months was 5.6 years, an increase of 0.3 year over the previous quarter, due to a decrease in the supply of new PRH flats in the past few quarters.
The average waiting time per quarter depends on several factors, including the number of public housing units available for allocation, the number of PRH applicants and the districts selected by the applicants. With a surplus of new PRH flats supply in areas such as Tuen Mun, Tung Chung, Kwun Tong and Sheung Shui in 2024/25 and 2025/26, the average waiting time for PRH applicants is expected to return to 4.5 years.
In addition, the authority has tightened its policy on wealthy public housing tenants since October this year, and the recovery of PRH flats has yielded significant results. As of November, the authority has repossessed nearly 2,000 flats, including flats misused in breach of tenancy agreements, abandoned flats, or flats where the tenant did not pay rent. The number of flats recovered in just one month was just below the 2,200 flats recovered in the whole of the previous year.
Following the Housing Authority’s tightening of policies for wealthy tenants, which requires PRH tenants to declare their assets and living conditions every two years, the authority also announced that it would step up measures to combat abuse of the PRH system starting from December 1 this year and continue to tighten its policies for wealthy tenants in April next year.
The measures will be implemented in three phases: short, medium and long term. The four short-term measures, which came into effect on December 1, mainly target the abuse of the public housing system, including the fining of tenants who leave their units vacant or do not reside in the units. The not retaining regular and continuous residence was also shortened to three months.
In addition, tenants who have moved out of their flats due to non-compliance with the " Take Over Tenancy Policy" or the "Well-off Tenants Policies" may apply for a Fixed Term Licence if they have temporary housing needs. The maximum period of temporary residence will be shortened from the current 12 months to four months, during which the HKHS will not reassess the eligibility of the tenants.
The mid-term measures will primarily tighten the "Well-off Tenants Policies". The measures will take effect from April 1, 2024. Tenants will be required to report their information in a timely manner. Under the new measures, tenants must declare every two years whether they continuously resided in their flats and have complied with the terms of the lease related to their living conditions, such as not subletting their flat.
In addition, all tenants who have signed a tenancy agreement with clauses under the "Well-off Tenants Policy" are required to declare every two years whether the head of the household and all family members own any domestic property in Hong Kong. If there is any change in the tenant’s familial circumstances, the tenant is required to declare their residential properties, assets, and financial income every two years regardless of theirtenure of residence, and tenants who own residential property in Hong Kong are required to vacate their flats.
The truth is that public housing supply is tight, and many residents struggle to secure a public housing flat as waiting times continue to stretch into years. That said, the Housing Authority’s tightening of PRH policies will no doubt combat the abuse of public housing. Furthermore, the number of public housing units to be recycled will inevitably exceed those of previous years. If successful, these multi-pronged measures can ultimately increase public housing supply and shorten the waiting time of PRH applicants.
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