Inside Hong Kong's terrifying 'coffin homes' with 200,000 crammed into cage-like spaces

Daily Mail​

17 hours ago

Residents struggling to make ends meet in one of the world's most expensive cities resort to sleeping in tiny properties that are so crammed that they have been dubbed 'coffin homes'.
More than 200,000 people in Hong Kong, China, live in partitioned shoebox apartments that offer just a few feet of space.
The former British colony was ranked as the world's most unaffordable city for a 14th consecutive year and has one of the world's highest rates of inequality.
Even these subdivided flats which can barely fit a double bed have become notorious for high rents.
Travel blogger Drew Binsky, 34, last week shared an astonishing video inside one of the miniscule properties which he labelled the 'sad reality of life in HK'.
Mr Binsky said the rent costs around 250 USD per month, which in current exchange rates converts to around £217.
That fee granted the 34-year-old access to an apartment which contained 26 of the 'coffin homes' inside.
The footage posted by the blogger showed one person living in a 'coffin home' boxed into a small bed, with their belongings pressed up against the wall and strewn across the sheets.
At the end of their bed a small television could be seen almost entirely covered by loose wires and plugs.
The exterior of the property also looks almost entirely derelict, with most typically located in outdated residential buildings in old business areas, allowing access to workplaces and schools.
Many such images have been captured over the years inside the tiny flats.
The windowless spaces are cramped, but just big enough, at 15 sq ft to 18 sq ft, for people to sleep in and store personal items.
But the lack of ventilation forces residents to leave open the small sliding doors to their homes, denying them any vestiges of privacy.
They also share toilets with everyone in their apartment, which are plagued by bugs and and musty odours.
These homes are a universe away from the lifestyles enjoyed by the wealthy living in lavish mountaintop mansions and luxury penthouses, or even those living in middle-class accommodation in the city.
However, steps are being taken to make 'coffin homes' a thing of the past.
Hong Kong vowed to adopt new laws setting minimum space and safety norms for subdivided flats, where each resident lives in an area of about 65 sq ft on average, or half the size of the parking space for a sedan.
It aims to eliminate subdivided flats by 2049, a target set in 2021 by China's top official overseeing the city.
Authorities plan to boost the supply of public housing to shorten waiting times, saying they have identified more than enough land to build 308,000 public housing units in the next decade.
Hong Kong's housing problem is said to be the top agenda item for the government and it is 'determined to eradicate sub-standard sub-divided units'.
Since July 2022, about 49,000 applicants have been housed in public rental housing, according to the Housing Bureau.
They also said that around 18,400 units in what is known as 'transitional housing' have been made available to them for immediate and short-term accommodation.