Concrete Analysis | There is no instant fix for Hong Kong’s housing crisis
- Hong Kong needs to cut as much red tape as possible and find better ways to use its resources
- Before any drastic measures, we must consider the Hong Kong market, which is exceptionally sensitive
Recently, I was a panellist at the China Conference: Hong Kong at SCMP, where we discussed pathways to solve the housing problem, coming up with ideas that might hasten a solution.
Lee has set up two task forces, one to tackle land supply, the other to expedite construction to tackle the wait time. He does not want eligible applicants to wait any longer than the current 6.1 years for a home. The previous administration laid strong foundations to streamline land and housing production. But, we still need to cut as much red tape as possible and find better ways to use our resources.
The previous administration pledged 330,000 public housing units by 2032. Yet, it only planned to provide 100,000 in the first five years. Burdening the remaining five with two-thirds of the total is likely to cause delays and target shifting.