LCQ8: Re-allocation of recovered public rental housing units

     Following is a question by the Hon Andrew Wan and a written reply by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Mr Frank Chan Fan, in the Legislative Council today (May 13):
 
Question
 
     Under the prevailing arrangements, if the public rental housing (PRH) units surrendered by existing tenants upon their moving out are situated in those PRH estates which have been included in any redevelopment programme of the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA) or the Hong Kong Housing Society (HS), such units will not be reallocated; if otherwise, the said organisations will reallocate the units after refurbishment to eligible households.  Regarding the existing PRH units which have been/will be recovered and the newly built PRH units, will the Government inform this Council:
 
(1) of the respective numbers of PRH units recovered by HA and HS in each of the past five financial years which might be used for reallocation (set out in Table 1);
Table 1

 
(2) of the respective numbers of new PRH units built by HA and HS in each of the past five financial years (set out in Table 2);
Table 2

 
(3) of the respective numbers of PRH units surrendered by tenants of (a) HA and (b) HS in each of the past five financial years which might be used for reallocation (excluding those units surrendered due to transfer); whether these organisations have grasped a breakdown of such numbers by different reasons for surrendering the units; if they have grasped a breakdown of such numbers by all or some of the reasons, set out the breakdown by the following major reasons for surrendering the units in tables of the same format of Table 3; if these organisations have not grasped a breakdown of such numbers by all the reasons, whether they will keep such records in a comprehensive manner in future; if not, of the reasons for that;
 
(i) death of the principal tenants,
(ii) the principal tenants being admitted to residential care homes,
(iii) the principal tenants having purchased subsidised sale flats,
(iv) the tenants moving out in compliance with the requirements of HA/HS as they had breached the tenancy agreements,
(v) the tenants' family income/total household net asset value having exceeded the limits prescribed under the "Well-off Tenants Policies", or tenants owning domestic property,
(vi) voluntary surrender of units by tenants (for reasons including emigration to other regions/countries, moving to other places of residence, or for unknown reasons), and
(vii) other reasons;

Table 3:
Name of organisation:        

 
(4) as the Government indicated in the Long Term Housing Strategy Annual Progress Report 2019 that the supply target for PRH/Green Form Subsidised Home Ownership Scheme units within the 10 years from 2020-2021 was 210 000 units, whether the 210 000 units will all be newly built or will include the PRH units to be recovered within the period, as envisaged by HA and HS, which may be used for reallocation; and
 
(5) in the three financial years from 2016-2017 to 2018-2019, of the respective average numbers of days lapsed from the date on which the units mentioned in (3) were received by (i) HA and (ii) HS to the date on which the units concerned were ready for reallocation upon completion of refurbishment works; whether HA and HS have concrete plans to shorten the said period, in order to maximise the use of public resources?

 
Reply:
 
President,
 
     My reply to the question raised by the Hon Andrew Wan is as follows:
 
(1) In the past five years, the number of public rental housing (PRH) units recovered by the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA) and the Hong Kong Housing Society (HKHS) each year which might be used for re-allocation (excluding units surrendered due to transfer) is set out in Annex I.
 
(2) In the past five years, the number of new PRH units built by HA and HKHS each year is set out in Annex II.
 
(3) In the past five years, the number of PRH units surrendered by tenants of HA and HKHS each year which might be used for re-allocation (excluding units surrendered due to transfer), categorised by reason, is set out in Annex III.
 
(4) According to the Long Term Housing Strategy (LTHS), the Government updates the long term housing demand projection annually and presents a rolling 10-year housing supply target to capture social, economic and market changes over time, and make timely adjustments where necessary.  The projection methodology adopted under LTHS aims to project the total number of new housing units required to provide adequate housing to each and every household in the 10 years.
 
     As announced by the Government in the LTHS Annual Progress Report 2019, the total housing supply target for the 10-year period from 2020-21 to 2029-30 is 430 000 units.  According to the public/private split of 70:30 for new housing supply, the public housing supply target for the said 10-year period is 301 000 units, including 210 000 PRH/ Green Form Subsidised Home Ownership Scheme (GSH) units.  This target refers to newly built PRH/ GSH units and does not include PRH units recycled by HA and HKHS for re-allocation.
 
(5) HA will normally arrange refurbishment works after recovering  vacant PRH units.  Upon issuance of the order for the refurbishment works, HA will allocate the units to PRH applicants in advance.  If such a PRH unit is provisionally accepted by the applicant concerned, the relevant estate office will invite the applicant to complete the intake formalities as soon as possible once the refurbishment works is completed.
 
     HA has already formulated a work procedures timetable for vacant flat refurbishment in order to closely monitor its timely completion.  In addition, HA has introduced a key performance indicator specifying that the target average turnaround time for vacant flat refurbishment should "not exceed 44 days".  In the three years from 2016-17 to 2018-19, the average turnaround time was 42.6 calendar days.  HA will review the workflows and processes from time to time with a view to speeding up vacant flat refurbishment works.
 
     In the three years from 2016-17 to 2018-19, the average time required for HKHS to refurbish a vacant flat was 47 calendar days.  If circumstances allow, HKHS would complete the relevant works as soon as possible.