Hk Government Should Implement More Subsidized Housing Policy

Recently, due to high property price in Hong Kong, many citizens are not able to buy their flats. Some people suggest that the government should implement policies to help them while others advocate that the government should not interfere with the market operation. For the interest of the general public, the government ought to provide help to them as it is the government's responsibility to solve citizens' housing problem. The government may increase the supply of flats and provide subsidies for people to buy private accommodations.

There are mainly two subsidized housing policies in Hong Kong - Public Rental Housing (PRH) and Home Ownership Scheme (HOS). PRH refers to flats owned by the government and rented to low income families with low rentals while HOS is a subsidized housing policy to help citizens to buy flats. According to HKHA, about one fourth of the citizens, approximately two million people, are now living in PRH. In 2003, the Housing Authority decided to suspend the HOS flats production.

In Hong Kong, the housing expenses keep increasing the burden of Hong Kong citizens. For small and medium flats, both the prices and the rentals have increased around 20% during the period July 2009- July 2010, while for the same period of time, the Gross National Product (GNP) increased by 4.6% only.

The government is doing less than enough to help citizens on housing. To reduce the burdens of citizens, the government should try to resume the Home Ownership Scheme. This act is to increase the supply of subsidized flats (especially for small and medium sized flats) which most people can afford to buy. This measure is strongly supported by most Legislative Councilors. Moreover, the government may try to provide loans to help people buy their own flats. For example, the former Home Assistance Loan Scheme (HALS) provides financial supports to citizens who are buying their first flat. HALS serves as a way to reduce the burden of citizens on buying flats. These acts are ways to help people solve their housing problems.