Housing-starved Hong Kong turns Covid quarantine site into hostel
The project in Kai Tak, named Runway 1331 - after a former airport on the site - opened on Sunday for trial operations, offering 250 rooms for rent starting at HK$200 ($25; £19) a night.
It's part of Hong Kong's Youth Hostel Scheme, which aims to house young people at affordable rates while they save up to rent or buy their own place.
Houses in Hong Kong are among the most expensive in the world - and notoriously small.
With waits for public rental flats lasting five years on average, many opt to rent subdivided flats where dozens of tenants are packed into a single apartment unit, also known as "coffin homes".
In 2020, the first facility under Hong Kong's Youth Hostel Scheme started operations. The scheme supports non-governmental organisations to build and operate youth hostels where people can live for up to five years.
There are currently two facilities in operation - both in the northwestern New Territories - which offer rooms to people aged 30 or below.
The hostel unveiled in Kai Tak on Sunday offers rooms for people aged 40 or below. It also aims to be a cultural hub, with some rent-free rooms set aside for tenants with creative talents.
These tenants are expected to give back to the community by organising workshops and other events to share their skills, according to local media.
"We hope Runway 1331 ultimately will develop into the world's biggest incubator for the youth," said entrepreneur Winnie Chiu Wing-kwan, who is developing the project with a state-owned enterprise, the South China Morning Post reported.
The Home and Youth Affairs Bureau said it hoped the community would also promote exchanges among Hong Kong tenants and youth from mainland China and abroad.
The 11.5-hectare (28.4 acres) site, which consists of 3,000 unused quarantine rooms with private toilets, is expected to be fully operational later this year.
There had been calls for such Covid quarantine facilities to be repurposed to fill the intense housing demand.
The facility in Kai Tak is one of several quarantine sites that were built during the pandemic, and which could collectively house hundreds of thousands of people.
As Covid restrictions lifted and these facilities emptied, calls mounted for them to be repurposed into residences to combat the city's yearslong housing shortage.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Warren Buffett's electric vehicle stock is smashing Tesla shares in 2025
Warren Buffett only holds one electric vehicle (EV) stock in his Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B) portfolio. That's Chinese automotive company BYD ( He seems to be onto a winner however. This year, BYD shares are up about 35%. That compares to a return of about -28% for Tesla (TSLA) – the most popular EV play. I'm not surprised BYD's outperforming Tesla by a wide margin this year. For a start, the Chinese company has far more momentum than Tesla does right now. For the first half of 2025, the company sold 2.146m vehicles. That represented growth of around 33% year on year. Looking at Tesla's recent numbers, it delivered about 721,000 vehicles in the first half of 2025. That's about 13% lower than the deliveries figure of 831,000 for the first half of last year. Secondly, BYD's expanding internationally at a rapid rate. Of its 2.146m H1 sales, 470,000 were exports. That figure represents an increase of about 230% on the H1 figure last year. Note that in April, BYD outsold Tesla for the first time in Europe. Third, BYD has a very stable CEO in Wang Chuanfu. He's a visionary leader with a brilliant track record, however he tends to maintain a low profile. By contrast, Tesla's CEO Elon Musk – who is also a visionary leader – is making headlines all the time. And a lot of the time, they aren't good for his company's share price. For example, earlier this week, Musk announced that he is planning to launch a new political party in the US. This sent Tesla stock down about 8% (investors want Musk to focus on Tesla not politics). It's worth noting that Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett's late business partner, was a huge admirer of Chuanfu. 'The guy at BYD is better at actually making things than Elon is,' he once said. Can BYD stock continue to outperform Tesla in the years ahead? I think so. Today, the valuation on BYD looks far more attractive than the valuation on Tesla. Currently, the former trades on a trailing price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of about 23 while the latter trades on a P/E ratio of about 144. Of course, Tesla has its robotaxis (which are now on the road in the US). These could be a major growth driver for the company in the years ahead and send its share price up significantly (note that BYD also has self-driving technology called 'God's Eye'). Meanwhile, BYD faces a few risks that could potentially lead to share price weakness. These include intense levels of competition in the Chinese EV market (where there's a major price war) and EU and/or US tariffs on its exports. Overall though, I see more potential in BYD today. I think the Chinese EV stock's worth considering given the company's momentum. The post Warren Buffett's electric vehicle stock is smashing Tesla shares in 2025 appeared first on The Motley Fool UK. More reading 5 Stocks For Trying To Build Wealth After 50 One Top Growth Stock from the Motley Fool Edward Sheldon has no positions in any shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has recommended Tesla. Views expressed on the companies mentioned in this article are those of the writer and therefore may differ from the official recommendations we make in our subscription services such as Share Advisor, Hidden Winners and Pro. Here at The Motley Fool we believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. Motley Fool UK 2025 Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Associated Press
2 hours ago
- Associated Press
Asian shares mostly decline as worries continue over Trump's tariffs
TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares were mostly lower in early Tuesday trading, as worries about President Donald Trump's latest updates to his tariffs weighed on investor sentiments. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 0.1% in morning trading to 39,507.28. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.4% to 8,602.70. South Korea's Kospi edged down 0.2% to 3,195.72. Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 0.1% to 24,172.79, while the Shanghai Composite dipped nearly 0.9% after the Chinese government reported that growth slowed in the last quarter as Trump's trade war escalated. Tuesday's data showed the economy expanded at a robust 5.2% annual pace, compared with 5.4% annual growth in January-March. In quarterly terms, the world's second-largest economy expanded by 1.1%, according to government data. Despite worries about the damage Trump's tariffs may have on the region's exporters, speculation continues that he may ultimately back down on them. They don't take effect until Aug. 1, which leaves time for more negotiations. On Wall Street Monday, the S&P 500 edged up by 0.1%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.2% and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.3%. A nationwide election for the upper house of Japan's Parliament, set for Sunday, also added to the wait-and-see attitude among market players. Analysts say the ruling pro-business Liberal Democratic Party may face an uphill battle and will likely need coalition partners, including possibly new ones, to keep its grip on power. If Trump were to enact all his proposed tariffs on Aug. 1, they would raise the risk of a recession. That would not only hurt American consumers but also raise the pressure on the U.S. government's debt level relative to the economy's size, particularly after Washington approved big tax cuts that will add to the deficit. 'We therefore believe that the administration is using this latest round of tariff escalation to maximize its negotiating leverage and that it will ultimately de-escalate, especially if there is a new bout of heightened bond and stock market volatility,' according to Ulrike Hoffmann-Burchardi, global head of equities at UBS Global Wealth Management. 'As usual, there are many conditions and clauses that can get these rates reduced,' said Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management. 'That's probably why the market might not like the tariff talk, but it's not panicking about it either.' For the time being, the uncertainty around tariffs could help keep markets unsteady. This upcoming week has several potential flashpoints that could shake things up. The latest reading on inflation across the U.S. comes Tuesday, with economists expecting it to show inflation accelerated to 2.6% last month from 2.4% in May. Companies are also lining up to report how they performed during the spring. JPMorgan Chase and several other huge banks will report their latest quarterly results Tuesday, followed by Johnson & Johnson on Wednesday and PepsiCo on Thursday. Fastenal, a distributor of industrial and construction supplies, reported Monday a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Its stock rose 2.9%, though it also said that market conditions remain sluggish. Shares of Kenvue rose 2.3% in shaky trading after the former division of Johnson & Johnson said CEO Thibaut Mongon is stepping down. Kenvue, the maker of Listerine and Band-Aid brands, is in the midst of a strategic review of its options, 'including ways to simplify the company's portfolio and how it operates,' according to board chair Larry Merlo. Some of the biggest moves in financial markets were for crypto, where bitcoin continues to set records. This upcoming week is Crypto Week in Washington, where Congress will consider several bills to 'make America the crypto capital of the world.' In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude fell 31 cents to $66.67 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, declined 25 cents to $68.96 a barrel. In currency trading, the U.S. dollar declined to 147.59 Japanese yen from 147.72 yen. The euro cost $1.1676, up from $1.1666. ___ AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed to this report.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
The 20-minute flight that became the world's first airplane hijacking
These days, travel between the harbor cities of Hong Kong and Macao takes an hour by high-speed ferry. But from 1948 to 1961, when the two were still colonies of European powers, wealthy tourists could opt for a brief trip by air. Miss Macao was not a beauty queen. She was a Consolidated Model 28 Catalina seaplane that whisked travelers from Portuguese-controlled Macao to British-controlled Hong Kong, a 20-minute trip. These jaunts were called 'cigarette flights,' since the duration was about the length of time needed to smoke one — and you could, since there were no rules against smoking on planes. Back then, getting on a plane 'was like taking a bus,' says Dan Porat, a history professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. If they could afford it, passengers could buy their tickets as they boarded the plane, with no need to book in advance. The Macau Air Transport Company, a now-defunct branch of Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific flagship airline, operated two of these Catalina 'flying boats.' As Macao didn't have an airport or land cleared for a runway, the planes could take off from its coastal waters. Flying became a popular option for businessmen going between the two cities, especially those who were bringing in items like gold, since Macao was the only open gold market in East Asia at the time. But then, on July 16, 1948, Miss Macao failed to arrive at Hong Kong's Kai Tak airport. Officials in Hong Kong quickly sounded the alarm, and local police began searching the waters between the two cities. The only survivor, a 24-year-old Chinese rice farmer named Wong Yu, was rescued by a fisherman and taken to the hospital in Macao. According to multiple news reports at the time, one of Wong's legs was broken, and he was wearing a life jacket he'd managed to grab as the plane descended. Although Wong claimed to be an ordinary passenger and explained that the plane had exploded in midair, inconsistencies in his story and his questionable behavior — including trying to escape from the hospital — led authorities and the press to a different explanation: The Miss Macao crashed into the sea while being taken over by 'air pirates,' an incident that the China Mail, a Hong Kong English-language newspaper, called 'unparalleled in the history of aviation.' On the day it last took off, Miss Macao had two pilots in the cockpit: American captain Dale Cramer and Australian first officer Ken McDuff, both former military airmen. In total, there were 27 people on board: along with 24 passengers, there was a single flight attendant, Delca da Costa, a Portuguese national from Macao who was also McDuff's girlfriend. Four of the passengers, though, had no intention of going to Hong Kong. In a confession, Wong said that he and three fellow would-be thieves had sold everything they owned to buy the tickets, figuring that the proceeds from the crime would be worth it. As historian Luis Andrade de Sa explains in his book 'Aviation in Macau: One Hundred Years of Adventure,' shortly after the plane took off from Macao, the four hijackers quickly sprang into action, with one storming into the cockpit and demanding that the pilots surrender control of the aircraft. According to multiple historical accounts, the lead hijacker, Chiu Tok, had taken flying lessons in Manila and planned to take over captaining the plane once the pilots were subdued. However, he hadn't anticipated that Cramer would refuse to let go of the controls, nor that there would be resistance in the main cabin. As one passenger tussled with a hijacker, a gun went off. McDuff swung at Chiu Tok with an iron bar. The hijackers shot both pilots, and Cramer's body landed on the plane's joystick control, sending the aircraft plummeting into the South China Sea. An August 1948 article in Time magazine described the scene in colorful language, writing that the four hijackers 'looked hungrily' at the rich passengers they were targeting. Wong was picked up by a local boat and treated for his injuries. His story about surviving a midair explosion was quickly disproven when pieces of Miss Macao's wreckage were recovered, punctured by bullet holes. Getting the true account of events out of Wong wouldn't be easy. He was in poor physical and mental health, so police were reluctant to use harsh interrogation. Instead, they came up with an unorthodox plan: they filled the hospital with sleeper agents. Dozens of Chinese-speaking undercover police officers posing as patients were tasked with befriending Wong, and they eventually got him to admit what really happened on board Miss Macao. He confessed that the plan had been for the hijackers to seize control of the plane and redirect it to a town in Guangdong province in southern China, where the passengers and crew would be robbed of their valuables and then held for ransom. No one was supposed to die. The hijacking of the Miss Macao was so novel that no one had ever applied the word 'hijacking' to such a situation — press at the time called it 'air piracy.' The concept of scanning passengers with a metal detector before they boarded a plane was still decades away. Only the most cursory of security checks were carried out, with some items of luggage opened and searched. The hijackers had prepared for that — they'd tied their guns to their legs with black string, and the China Mail newspaper reported at the time that one had hidden bullets in the hollowed-out sole of his shoe. Although Wong eventually told the full story of what happened on board Miss Macao, there was confusion over how to prosecute him — and who would do it. Portuguese authorities in Macao said that because the plane was owned by a British company, Wong's trial would need to take place in Hong Kong. But because the hijackers were all Chinese, British officials in Hong Kong said the case was not in their jurisdiction either. Finally, in 1951, Wong was deported from Macao to mainland China, where he died not long after, at the age of 27. He never stood trial for robbery, murder or piracy. As for the two former colonial cities, their own air travel industries blossomed in the decades to come. Hong Kong became one of the world's biggest air hubs as its economy grew in the late 20th century. The city became a financial capital and the gateway to mainland China. It outgrew Kai Tak Airport, which closed in 1998 and was replaced with the larger Hong Kong International, which is consistently ranked among the best airports in the world. Meanwhile, Macao International Airport opened in 1995. These days, the airport has a small exhibit about important aviation stories that happened there — including the hijacking of the Miss Macao. The story of the Hong Kong-Macao hijacking quickly fell out of newspapers. Many people in the nascent commercial aviation industry saw it as a terrible one-off and didn't believe that plane hijacking — or skyjacking as it was called at the peak of its popularity — would become commonplace. There was also a fear that too much coverage of the story would scare off would-be flyers. When the United States established the Federal Aviation Administration in 1958 to regulate air travel, the legislation made no mention of preventing skyjacking, a sign that it was still not seen as a significant issue. But the social unrest of the years that followed, and the growth and increasing affordability of air travel, changed all that, historians say. From 1968 to 1972, the airlines went through what became known as the 'golden age of hijacking,' a phrase popularized by Brendan I. Koerner in his book 'The Skies Belong to Us.' 'Every five and a half days, there was a hijacking,' says Porat, the history professor. 'This is the time where the industry is trying to develop. And basically, (hijacking) becomes a threat.' Some of the incidents followed the same plan as the Miss Macao incident — a group of hijackers would take over the plane, land it in a third location, rob the prisoners, and hold the passengers and/or the plane for ransom. Other hijackers claimed political reasons for taking over airplanes, demanding passage to North Vietnam, Algeria or Cuba, all of which were at odds with the United States. It happened the other way in a few cases, too. Individuals from countries behind the Iron Curtain — often members of the flight crew — would demand to be flown to a non-communist nation where they could claim political asylum. Hijacking became so common that airline head offices kept large amounts of cash on hand in case they needed to fork it over to a would-be hijacker, Koerner explains in his book. William Landes, a US economist and emeritus professor at the University of Chicago Law School, estimates that during this so-called 'golden age,' hijackings cost the aviation industry $219,221 per passenger. According to Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Porat, the hijacking of a 1968 plane by Palestinian militants was 'largely agreed upon in scholarly circles to be the first international act of international terrorism (via) the hijacking of a plane.' Three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine took over El Al Flight 426, which was traveling from Rome to Israel, and diverted the plane to Algeria. The non-Israeli passengers and crew were allowed to leave and board a plane to France, while 40 male Israelis were held for 40 days before being released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. Although everyone on board El Al 426 survived, skyjackings had become too big to ignore. The cost to airlines was astronomical, and industry executives were fed up. As Koerner puts it, 'By the end of 1972, the skyjackers had become so reckless, so dismissive of human life, that the airlines and the federal government had no choice but to turn every airport into a miniature police state.' Porat agrees. Although there was initially pushback from travelers, there had been enough high-profile hijackings that safety had become a significant concern. And they acquiesced, agreeing to walk through metal detectors, have their luggage X-rayed, and more. 'We're so used to this being searched thing that it's quite incredible,' Porat says. In 1970, the UN Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft, a multilateral agreement to proscribe and punish the hijacking of planes, was approved at The Hague. It called hijackings 'a matter of grave concern,' adding that 'unlawful acts of seizure or exercise of control of aircraft in flight jeopardize the safety of persons and property, seriously affect the operation of air services, and undermine the confidence of the peoples of the world in the safety of civil aviation.' In 1971, US President Richard Nixon appointed Lt. Gen. Benjamin O. Davis Jr. the country's first — and so far only — 'hijacking czar.' Davis wanted to impose strict screening procedures at airports but was met with pushback from the aviation industry, which believed that passengers would balk at the rules and give up on air travel. Still, in 1973, Nixon introduced mandatory metal detector screenings for all passengers in the United States and X-rays for all bags. And the 9/11 attacks, closely followed by the attempted bombing of a Paris-to-Miami flight with explosives hidden in a shoe, brought on the familiar grueling security checks of today — none of which, for all the industry's fears in the Nixon era, discouraged the public from flying. What happened on the Miss Macao was not a singular story. It was the first of many aviation incidents that would transform the way humans travel by air. Before 'the golden age of hijacking' or the September 11, 2001 attacks, one nearly forgotten seaplane set a new age of aviation into motion.
