The Housing Bureau (HB) said today (Dec. 26) that with the gradual recovery of Hong Kong's tourism industry and taking into account the fact that hotels and guesthouses are generally smaller in size and do not allow cooking, which makes it difficult for them to cater for the needs of ordinary families, the bureau would no longer accept new applications for the use of hotels or guesthouses as transitional housing.
The Government previously launched the Pilot Scheme to Subsidise Using Rooms in Hotels and Guesthouses as Transitional Housing Subsidised Project during the epidemic to utilize hotels or guesthouses as transitional housing.
According to the Housing Bureau, a total of nine projects have been approved under the pilot scheme, providing a total of 816 rooms. The remaining balance of the Funding Scheme to Support Transitional Housing Projects by Non-government Organisations will now be utilized to allow operating hotels and guesthouses to extend their existing tenancies as far as practicable.
The HB noted that it continued to welcome applications for the conversion of existing industrial or residential buildings and schools into transitional housing projects.
At present, more than 21,000 transitional housing units are being provided through the government's subsidized housing schemes and other subsidies, exceeding the target of 20,000 units. As at the end of November this year, about 9,000 units have already come into operation. It is expected that about 11,000 units will be completed and ready for use in 2024, and the remaining 1,000 units will be completed in the first quarter of 2025.
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