Stacy Shi
Property management companies will benefit in future Housing Department project management tenders if they successfully report abuse or violation of public rental housing flats to authorities, says Director of Housing Rosanna Law Shuk-pui.
The reward system comes after the department recovered 2,100 public rental housing units up to the middle of last month since it issued forms to 88,000 units for tenants to declare whether they own domestic properties in Hong Kong and whether they continuously live in the units, as well as after randomly inspecting 30,000 flats.
Law said the bonus-point system will incentivize property management firms to pay greater attention to suspected violations or misuse of public housing and enhance authorities’ efforts in combating public housing abuse.
”We want to give more encouragement to the property management companies,” she said.
”We will evaluate their performance on a monthly basis.
”If they do a good job, of course they will get more points, which will help their overall rating and increase their chances of getting the next contract for property management services from the Housing Department.”
Lawmaker Chan Hok-fung of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong said management companies are obliged to cooperate with the department, regardless of the bonus points.
Chan said some tenants were required to move out as a result of abuse, and he expects the number of abuses to drop in the future.
A member of the Legislative Council’s housing panel, Scott Leung Man-kwong, said the department’s approach could show the public that abusers only account for a small proportion of the tenants.
This could also minimize prejudice against them, he added.
Meanwhile, the Housing Authority endorsed its corporate plan for 2024-25, its 2023-24 revised budget and 2024-25 proposed budget yesterday.
The latest budgets and financial forecasts showed the authority will have the needed financial resources to meet its recurrent and construction expenditure up to 2027-28.
Construction expenditure remains its largest spending item and is expected to reach around HK$40 billion for both 2026-27 and 2027-28 to meet the current 10-year public housing supply target.
”We will certainly exercise careful and serious budgetary control to ensure prudent and cost-effective use of resources,” a spokesman said.
” We will also monitor closely and review the income and expenditure projections in the next round of financial forecasts updating.
The 2024-25 corporate plan and budget will be submitted to Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu for approval in accordance with the Housing Ordinance.
stacy.shi@singtaonewscorp.com