Govt takes back 5,000 PRH flats over past 2 years
The Housing Authority has taken back 5,000 public rental housing units from tenants over the past two years after they were found to have been abusing public housing resources, Director of Housing Rosanna Law said on Saturday. Speaking on a radio programme, Law pointed out that the figure is equivalent to a medium-sized public housing estate. "Chun Yeung Estate in Fo Tan provides around 4,800 units. Therefore, by recovering 5,000 units due to tenancy abuse is equivalent to a medium-sized estate," she said. Most of the recovered flats are located in developed or urban areas. Law said renovation for the retrieved flats would only take a few months, and they then could be allocated to people on the waiting list. Officials have been working with property management companies to combat tenancy abuse. So far, 38 flats have been taken back after companies filed reports of suspected system abuse, and Law said the results are "very encouraging". The government had required 250,000 public housing tenants residing for over 10 years to submit an income and assets declaration form by the end of May. Speaking to reporters after the programme, Law revealed that it has already received 254,000 forms, which is more than 99 percent of all the households. "There are 70 units from which we have not received declaration forms, despite repeated chasing and reminders. For these, we have already started our process of taking back their housing units." The official also added that the Housing Authority hadn't set any target on how many public rental housing units it would take back this year. "Since the beginning of this financial year 2024-25, we have already up to date resumed 700 flats, under the anti-abuse campaign. So we are expecting similar numbers in the coming seasons, and the overall full year figures should be similar to previous years," she said.