By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-03-20 14:36:21 | Updated at 2025-03-21 04:27:05
14 hours ago
Close to 1,200 of the most well-off tenants in Hong Kong’s public rental homes will be forced out in four years’ time even if they are willing to pay higher rents, in a more aggressive move to prevent abuse of public housing resources by the government, the Post has learned.
However, those tenants will be eligible to apply for subsidised homes in the next four years, as a Green Form applicant after they leave, according to the new policy proposed by the Housing Bureau, to be announced on Friday, sources said.
Green Form applicants are tenants giving up their right to live in public homes and as a result only need to pay 5 per cent of a subsidised flat’s value as a down payment.
“The purpose of the proposed policy is to further prevent abuse of public housing resources, and to encourage upward mobility of tenants who are now much better off,” an insider told the Post.
The new measures are part of a more aggressive move by the authority to tighten the rental requirements for well-off tenants, which will see them paying a significantly higher rental.
Under the current requirement, tenants whose income has increased to two times the income limit, have to pay 1.5 times of the basic rental, while those whose income increased to more than three times, but less than five times, will see their rent go up to two times of the basic requirement.
