Hong Kong wants to rehouse people living in ‘coffin homes’

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Housing in Hong Kong is the least affordable you will find anywhere in the world, a title the city has retained for more than a decade. The city’s government now has a plan to rehouse those living in the worst conditions. But some critics say it is just delaying real solutions.

Transcript

00:00In Hong Kong, real estate is king, if you're well off.

00:08But for those locked out of the city's notoriously expensive market, there are these homes, flats

00:14subdivided into just enough space to live.

00:18Here, one person lives, and there's another person living upstairs.

00:24You can see, this apartment has 26 rooms.

00:29Several of us work in restaurants, tour security guards, or work night shifts.

00:33Advocates say there are well over 200,000 people living in premises like this.

00:39Actually, they are single people, but also the family with children.

00:43We estimate there are around 50,000 children living in these kind of conditions.

00:49Hong Kong's leader John Lee wants to phase out all subdivided flats smaller than eight

00:54square metres and those that don't have a window or individual toilet.

00:58But critics say that will only make the housing crisis worse.

01:02They have nowhere to go.

01:04They are waiting for public housing, but they don't know when they will really get one.

01:09To help alleviate the huge public housing waiting list, the government plans to build

01:1430,000 temporary units that it calls light public housing.

01:19Here in Kai Tak, there are plans for 10,000 temporary units near the train station.

01:24Locals aren't happy, but are afraid of speaking out.

01:28Whether the transport station, the social facility, whether it can support this population,

01:34I heard a lot of concern in the neighbourhood.

01:37Like housing crises around the world, there are no quick or easy answers.

01:42Eventually, we hope there's no subdivided flats or caged homes in Hong Kong.

01:47So we think they should include them, and then have a timetable to eradicate this kind

01:52of housing.

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