Chief Executive John Lee recently released Hong Kong's first five-year plan and the 2026 Policy Address. Speaking on a television programme today (Sep. 20) about public housing waiting time, Lee said that since he took office, the overall waiting time for public housing has fallen from 6.1 years to 4.8 years, and he is confident of meeting the target of reducing it to 4.5 years next year. As for the five-year plan's proposal to cut the waiting time to below four years by 2030/31, he said an average of 35,000 public housing units will be completed each year over the next five years, and he is confident this can be achieved, hoping to move towards reducing the waiting time to three years.
Many transitional housing contracts will expire after the next financial year. Lee said in response that both transitional housing and Light Public Housing involve the government "finding land to do it," and the government will continue to seek land. He also said he personally believes Light Public Housing is more efficient than transitional housing, but as to whether more Light Public Housing will be built, "it can be considered if there is a need," though he hopes there will be sufficient public housing supply in future.
On the issue of subdivided flats, Lee said the government will phase out substandard subdivided flats in an orderly manner, pay attention to the housing needs of affected residents, and will not use heavy-handed measures. With the registration period for the simple room system less than a year old, 65% of subdivided flats have already registered, representing market recognition of the system and acknowledgement of demand. He also hopes that in the future, with sufficient public housing supply and improvements in the economy and residents' incomes, the size of simple rooms on the market can develop to exceed the minimum standards.
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