Research title

Should the Government resume the Low Cost Housing Scheme?

Research gap
The real property market has been blazing through the past couple years. The prices
of the private housings have also been rose rapidly. The middle class (or so-called
Sandwich Class) are not able to purchase their own real property without a very long
period of working and saving. The public housing scheme can solve the problem for
those citizens. But there will be other consequences and influences Such as the
objection of the developers, the choice of the location and the set up of the application
qualification.
Public housing in Hong Kong is a housing programme which the
Hong Kong Government provides cheap housing for sandwich class
residents. It is a big ingredient of housing in Hong Kong, with nearly
fifty percent of the citizens now living in some form of public
housing. The public housing policy dates to 1953, when a fire in
Shek Kip Mei burned lots of shanty homes and forced the
government to begin constructing homes for the homeless.
Public housing is mainly built by the Hong Kong Housing Authority
and the Hong Kong Housing Society. Rents and prices are sharply
lower than those for private housing and are strongly funded by the
government, with revenues partially compensated from sources
such as rents and charges collected from car parks and shops within
or near the neighborhood.
Public housing estates are built in country side or less
concentrated parts of the territory, but urban expansion has left
some older estates now deeply within the City. They are found in
every area of Hong Kong except in Wan Chai. A big part of projects
consist of high-rise buildings, and the new buildings usually have
forty or more storeys.
Sandwich Class Housing Scheme estates were built for sale to
lower-middle and middle-income residents, who did not allow
applying low-income public housing in the Home Ownership Scheme
but still, had trouble affording private housing. Managed by the
Hong Kong Housing Society, the quality and market positioning of
Sandwich Class Housing were sharply higher than public housing
estates and comparable to some middle-class private
developments. These units were sold at levels that were a little bit
below market price and came with a five-year resale restriction.
Construction of Sandwich Class Housing Scheme estates ended in
2000 due to changes in the housing market.
Research aims & objectives
1. To discuss the pros and cons of the resumption of the Government Low Cost
Housing Scheme to Hong Kong by different views of the government, the developers
and the citizens
2. To discuss the situation for the government if she chooses to resume the scheme
or not to resume the scheme
Research methodology (methods and programme)
- Quantitative research
To conduct a survey and use graphs and diagrams to analysis the data collected
 - Qualitative research
To commit interviews in order to understand the opinions of the interviewees

Expected research findings

- The opinions of the citizens about the resume of the Low Cost Housing Scheme
- The expected period for the government to resume
- The most preferable location of the new low cost housing
- The standing point of the developers
- The views of the citizens about the future of the Hong Kong real estate market
Expected research conclusion
- When the government should resume the scheme
- What kind of changes or adjustments should the scheme do
- Where should the new low cost housing be located
Research contributions & significances
Public housing estates in Hong Kong may be rented out or sold
under different government subsidy schemes, and are usually
subject to a variety of constrains and eligibility criteria. The scale is
also variable, and are built and maintained under the responsibility
of the Hong Kong Housing Authority and the Hong Kong Housing
Society. According to the 2006 census, 3300000 people or nearly
half of the population of Hong Kong lived in rental or subsidized-sale
public housing; within that group, 31 percent lived in public rental
housing, 17.1 percent lived in Housing Authority subsidized-sale
flats and 0.7 percent lived in Housing Society subsidized-sale flats.
So, it is obvious that public housings in Hong Kong are very
important and the scheme of the build of the public housing can
make an big impact to the whole society.
Public Rental Housing estates are the most common types of
public housing estates, and are rented at relatively cheap rates to
low-income citizens. They are managed by either the Hong Kong
Housing Authority or the Hong Kong Housing Society. Low-income
eligibility criteria for public rental and subsidized-sale flats fluctuate
between families, the elderly, the disables and individual applicants.
Contributions:
- to give a picture of the influences of the scheme to the market and the citizens
- to clear the situation and the point of the build of the low cost building in Hong
Kong at this point
- to combine the opinions of different parties
Research difficulties and limitations
- The interviewees may not will to give their opinions.
- The collection of data of the housing scheme is hard as there maybe documents
not disclosed to public