Affordable housing for all? Only with a shift in attitudes from governments, including in Hong Kong

Barry Wilson says ensuring adequate housing, as set out in the UN development goals, will require not only greater supply but also curbing speculation, as well as embracing advances in construction technology and new platforms like the sharing economy

Reading Time:5 minutes

Published: 3:57pm, 26 Sep 2017Updated: 7:15pm, 26 Sep 2017

Today’s youth are growing up with diminished hope of ever owning their own property. But, more than that, they are increasingly unable to afford to rent suitable accommodation in the places they need to live and work. Illustration: Craig Stephens

One of the targets of the UN Sustainable Development Goals is to “ensure access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services, and upgrade slums by 2030”.

However, meeting poorer people’s housing needs is requiring larger subsidies, at a time when most countries are cutting back on public spending, or even pulling out of state-subsidised housing altogether. The US housing market, between 2001 and 2013, saw the disappearance of 2.4 million units for low-income earners.

An insufficient supply of affordable housing seems to have become a common crisis worldwide, for both rich and poor economies. High housing costs are even squeezing middle-income families, and in the world’s costliest cities like Hong Kong, households earning far more than the median income can still be financially stretched by rent or mortgage payments.

Hong Kong home prices scale new peak, 20 years after 1997 record

People are stuck in inadequate homes or pay so much of their incomes for housing that they are forced to forgo other necessities.

Not everyone can own property and not everyone wants to. Germany, for instance, has some of the lowest property ownership levels in the developed world, with about half the population living in rental accommodation, a level comparable with that in Hong Kong.

Why are homes in Hong Kong so expensive?

However, the difference is that, in Germany, this is mostly by choice. People prefer not to purchase, with tenants enjoying greater rights and afforded stronger legal protection. Tenants feel more invested and undertake far more of the maintenance themselves than would be allowed in Hong Kong. On average, a tenant spends three to seven years in one property, much longer than in other countries.