Chief Executive John Lee announced today (Feb. 18) that the average waiting time for general applicants of public housing has dropped to 5.3 years, the lowest in six years.
Lee noted that before this administration took office, the average waiting time for public housing reached a peak of 6.1 years. The latest figures, however, show a reduction of 0.8 years, or approximately nine and a half months, which not only enhances residents' living conditions sooner but also saves them a significant amount in rent.
For households living in subdivided units, this reduction in waiting time could mean saving around HK$30,000 in rent, he added.
In his first Policy Address after taking office, Lee set a target of capping public housing waiting time at six years and proposed the construction of 30,000 Light Public Housing units, aiming to shorten the overall waiting time to 4.5 years within five years. He mentioned that the first phase of these units will begin in-take in this year, with the second phase—including projects in Kai Tak, Tuen Mun, and two converted school sites—offering over 5,000 units available for application next week, with the earliest residents moving in by the fourth quarter of this year.
Lee expressed confidence in achieving the goal of reducing the overall public housing waiting time to 4.5 years, a reduction of one and a half years from the current six years.
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