By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-01-19 12:36:42 | Updated at 2025-01-19 15:20:47
3 hours ago
A Hong Kong poll has found 60 per cent of tenants living in the city’s tiny subdivided flats think the government’s proposed minimum size of 86 sq ft for the homes is too small.
The Society for Community Organisation released its findings on Sunday, weeks before the end of a stakeholder consultation over the government’s plan to phase out substandard shoebox homes.
Sze Lai-shan, the deputy director of the concern group, urged the government to instead set standards based on household size to ensure living quality.
“Even though some flats could meet the eight square metre [86 sq ft] requirement, the families will still be living in extremely cramped conditions,” she said.
“The effectiveness of the regulatory regime will be weakened without a standard on the floor space per head.”
Hong Kong has 110,000 subdivided flats and is now seeking to weed out low-quality homes by only allowing those meeting certain criteria to remain on the market as “basic housing units”, but controversies remain over the standards set by the government.
The organisation’s poll, conducted between November and January, covered more than 200 households living in subdivided flats, cage homes and bed spaces in the districts of Sham Shui Po, Kowloon City and Yau Tsim Mong.
