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Policy Address

Housing: Enhancing Quantity, Speed, Efficiency and Quality

Public Housing Supply

64. We will work closely with the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HKHA) and the Hong Kong Housing Society (HKHS) to increase public housing supply in the first five-year period by enhancing quantity, speed, efficiency and quality, thereby shortening the waiting time for PRH. We will:

  1. introduce the new LPH – The Government will make use of government and private land with no development plan in the near future, and adopt standardised simple design and the MiC approach to build LPH units expeditiously. About 30 000 units will be completed in five years, increasing the overall public housing supply by about 25%. Those on the waiting list for traditional PRH for three years or more may apply for LPH for earlier allocation of units, and priority will be given to family applicants. Tenants may retain their position in the queue for traditional PRH and can move into traditional PRH later on. LPH units will be provided with basic facilities of traditional PRH units. The rent of LPH will be lower than traditional PRH in the same district. We will seek LegCo's approval for dedicated funding to build and operate LPH. At the same time, we will continue to provide about 20 000 transitional housing units through partnership with the community.

    Taking into account the some 30 000 LPH units, overall public housing production will increase to around 158 000 units in the next five years (from 2023-24 to 2027-28), including the 12 000 PRH units provided under the PRH Advance Allocation Scheme (refer to item (ii) below for details). This represents a significant increase of some 50% compared to 105 000 units in the previous five-year period (from 2022-23 to 2026-27).

    We will introduce a new index of Composite Waiting Time for Subsidised Rental Housing to reflect applicants' composite waiting time for both traditional PRH and LPH. On the basis that the number of newly registered applicants and the quantity of recovered PRH units will remain unchanged at the current level, the target is to reduce the Composite Waiting Time for Subsidised Rental Housing from 6 years to about 4.5 years in four years' time (i.e. in 2026-27);

  2. implement the PRH Advance Allocation Scheme – The Government will adopt a phased approach to expedite the completion of some PRH units. It is expected that about 12 000 units will be available in next five years for advance allocation of about 3 to 18 months;