Transcript of remarks by S for Housing at media session on LPH Phase 1 application (with photo)

     Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Housing, Ms Winnie Ho, at a media session for the Light Public Housing (LPH) Phase 1 application this afternoon (June 13):
 
Reporter: Why would the priority be given to those opted for the New Territories, do you mind explaining briefly to English viewers? The second question is 85 000 eligible applicants, but only 4 400 available LPH for now, what are the remedial measures to expedite the provision of housing to them? 
 
Secretary for Housing: Thank you. Second question first. This is only the first batch, our target is to provide 30 000 light public housing units by the year 2026/27. All the projects are in full speed, all the projects are being pushed forward on the site. So we are just announcing the first batch of 4 400 (units). You will be hearing such announcement coming in later this year, and maybe early next year, batch by batch. This is how we are processing, and handling this application, because we want to handle one batch after the other, so that we can also manage the workload coming to our processing team.
 
​     The next question is about the marking system. When we talk about the marking system, we also take into consideration comments that was given to us during the consultation. For example, families with young children, many organisations told us that changes that can bring to those families are really remarkable, and very obvious. Because for children when they grow up, like from four years old to 10 years old, this is a very critical period, these five years. If you leave them in sub-divided units in such a poor condition, it really affects their learning, their growing up, and their social abilities. If we move them out from such a poor environment, give them a much better caring situation, with social workers, with good operators taking care of them, their changes are very obvious. Their improvement in schools, their results, their social abilities, communication skills, teaming skills, are all very much improved. Thank you.
 
Reporter: Can I ask about the KPI of the operators? Because we notice there are some KPIs set for them. So what is the KPI for Choi Hing Road and also what is your expectation of the occupancy rate?
 
Secretary for Housing: Thank you. For all the operation tenders, actually the tender for the first batch has returned and we are tendering the second batch. So we are taking care of the tenders of the operation contracts. In all the tenders we had set KPIs in both the maintenance work, cleaning work, security and also the social services to be provided to the tenants. If the performance is not up to the standard, expenses and costs will be deducted from their monthly payment. We also set the KPI for occupancy rate. From certain month onwards, they have to reach an occupancy of (for example) 95 per cent. If that occupancy is reached or exceeded, we will give them rewards, some extra money. If they fall below certain standard, then some marks will be deducted from their performance. That’s how we try to monitor their performance.
 
(Please also refer to the Chinese version of the transcript.)