In order to reflect more comprehensively the effectiveness of the Government in improving the living conditions of the public through providing different types of subsidised rental housing, the Chief Executive announced in 2022 Policy Address that a new index of “Composite Waiting Time for Subsidised Rental Housing” (CWT) will be introduced to calculate the composite waiting time* of public rental housing (PRH) general applicants for receiving the first offer of PRH or Light Public Housing (LPH) units.
The methodology in calculating CWT is largely the same as that of the average waiting time (AWT) for PRH. PRH general applicants (i.e. family and elderly one-person applicants) that were housed to PRH or LPH in the past 12 months will be surveyed, and the average time taken between their registration for PRH and the first offer for PRH or LPH will then be calculated.
As at end-December 2024, the CWT for PRH general applicants is 5.3 years.1
*Waiting time basically refers to the time taken between registration for PRH and first flat offer, excluding any frozen period during the application period (e.g. when the applicant has not yet fulfilled the residence requirement; the applicant has requested to put his/her application on hold pending arrival of family members for family reunion; the applicant is imprisoned, etc). If applicants take into account their waiting time under the Quota and Points System or their frozen period, they may perceive a longer waiting time than the average waiting time as announced by the Hong Kong Housing Authority.
To alleviate the hardship of the inadequately housed families that have been waiting for PRH for a long time, the Government has been developing TH in the past few years through better use of vacant land and premises, the long-term development plan of which is not yet fixed or will not be implemented in the near future, to provide short-term accommodation to those in need. The Government has implemented the provision of over 21 000 TH units, exceeding the original target of 20 000 units. As at end-December 2024, about 18 400 TH units have been made available by the Housing Bureau for application by those with imminent housing needs, and about 98% (about 2 700) of the remaining units will be completed within 2025.
Besides, the co-ordination and application processes for TH are improving continuously. Following the central common application form introduced in June 2023, “TH-E” - the Central and Unified Platform for TH was launched by the Housing Bureau in September 2023 to allow application for TH online. Since the implementation of the central common application form and the “TH-E” initiative, the Housing Bureau has received about 26 900 applications for TH by end-December 2024.
As announced in the Chief Executive’s 2022 Policy Address, the Government needs to fill the short-term gap of public housing supply at the soonest in order to improve the living conditions and quality of life of people living in inadequate housing as soon as possible. In this connection, the Government will make use of government and private land, the long-term development plan of which will not be implemented in the near future, and adopt standardised simple design and the Modular Integrated Construction approach, as well as convert vacant school premises to build about 30 000 LPH units before 2027-28. LPH will mainly cater for general applicants who are on the waiting list for traditional PRH for three years or more, with priority given to family applicants.
LPH projects are developed in two batches. Construction of the first batch of LPH projects, providing about 17 000 LPH units, commenced in December 2023. The second batch of LPH projects will provide about 13 000 LPH units, in which the construction of about 11 500 units commenced in March 2024, while the construction of the remaining 1 500 units has also commenced progressively starting from November 2024. In respect of operation and management, the first two operation and management contracts of LPH (covering the projects at Yau Pok Road in Yuen Long, Choi Hing Road and Choi Shek Lane in Ngau Tau Kok) were awarded in July and October 2024 respectively, and the pre-management work has commenced immediately. In view of the completion of the first batch of LPH projects starting from the first quarter of 2025, covering Yau Pok Road in Yuen Long and Choi Hing Road in Ngau Tau Kok and providing a total of about 4 400 units, application for LPH commenced on 24 June 2024. As at mid-January 2025, the Housing Bureau has received over 13 500 applications.
For the AWT for PRH, please refer to the relevant webpage on the Hong Kong Housing Authority’s website.
1 As the LPH units are being developed, the figure is the same as the AWT for PRH general applicants of the same period.