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HKFP
26-05-2025
- Business
- HKFP
Hong Kong to cut subsidy scheme for families waiting for public housing, despite NGO's call
Hong Kong authorities have said they will not extend a trial subsidy scheme for people waiting for public housing, despite warnings from an NGO that ending the benefits would impose a financial burden on the poor. The Society for Community Organization (SoCO) said in a press conference on Sunday that its survey of 330 households found that over 40 per cent received the Cash Allowance Trial Scheme. According to SoCO's findings, the scheme helped nearly 70 per cent of recipients move to a better living environment. It also supported their food and medical expenses, as well as costs associated with their children's education. Launched in 2021, the scheme provides a monthly allowance for households that have been waiting for public rental housing for over three years and are not receiving the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance scheme, a subsidy programme for low-income families. Recipients of the trial scheme receive between HK$1,300 and HK$3,900 a month, depending on the size of their households. In May, the government said the scheme would conclude at the end of June. In response to media enquiries, the Housing Bureau said on Sunday that the scheme would end as planned. The bureau said the first batch of flats under the Light Public Housing scheme – which provides rental accommodation for households that have been waiting for public housing for at least three years – has been completed, with move-ins having started in March. The second batch of flats will begin move-ins at the end of June. Given that beneficiaries can soon occupy these transitional housing flats, as well as the government's need to be prudent in public spending, the government has no intention of continuing the scheme, the bureau added. 305,000 recipients As of the end of February, a total of around 110,000 eligible households – or about 305,000 people – had benefited from the Cash Allowance Trial Scheme, the government said. The scheme's expenditure was around HK$5.56 billion. The scheme has already been extended for one year past its expiry date. When it was launched in 2021, the government said it would run on a three-year trial basis, with an expected end date in mid-2024. Last year, the government said it would prolong the scheme for one year until June 2025 to 'help grassroots families on the waiting list for public rental housing.' In its press release, SoCO urged the authorities to help the city's poor 'weather the hard times' and to extend the scheme. The group said that the Light Public Housing scheme would offer only 55,000 units when completed, far fewer than the number of households receiving the cash allowance. It added that more than 80 per cent of the units would only be completed between the last quarter of this year and the last quarter of next year. During the annual budget address in February, the city's financial chief Paul Chan announced that the city had logged an estimated HK$87.2 billion deficit, marking the third shortfall in a row. SoCO acknowledged the government's aims to lower spending, but emphasised that the beneficiaries of such welfare schemes were grassroots families. 'Any consideration to cancel this program must be handled with greater caution, as it cannot be assessed solely from a financial perspective,' SoCO wrote in Chinese. ' The social impact of the program should not be disregarded.'
South China Morning Post
25-05-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Hundreds of poor Hongkongers face cutbacks in essentials when handout ends: poll
Hundreds of underprivileged Hong Kong families fear they will need to cut back on essentials, including academic support for their children, when the government ends a trial handout scheme next month for those awaiting public housing, a survey has found. Advertisement The Society for Community Organisation (SoCO) said on Sunday that half of the 330 poor households it polled in May received or were applying for the money to help pay for essentials, as it urged authorities to again extend the scheme. 'The cash allowance is no doubt a benevolent measure,' said Sze Lai-shan, deputy director of SoCO. 'It works alongside a series of policies such as light public housing, tenancy control and the basic housing unit regulatory regime to safeguard the housing rights of the low-income group.' The handout of HK$1,300 (US$166) to HK$3,900 a month to families waiting for public rental flats for more than three years ends on June 30. Advertisement 'The longer a household has received the allowance, the stronger the impacts … if the government ends it suddenly, it will for sure deal a blow to their livelihoods,' Sze said.
HKFP
24-05-2025
- Business
- HKFP
Of cost and care: NGO ImpactHK on why Hong Kong needs homeless shelter on gov't land
After Hong Kong authorities rejected ImpactHK's application to build a homeless shelter on government land, the NGO began reaching out to lawmakers, hoping for a dialogue. Getting approval to move most of its facilities into a four-storey building on government land would have allowed the NGO to cut down on rental costs by about HK$4 million each year, while continuing to operate a separate drop-in centre that serves homeless people seeking assistance on an impromptu basis. 'It's a huge amount of money every year that we're spending on rent,' said Jeff Rotmeyer, the NGO's founder and CEO, in an interview with HKFP. 'It's not sustainable.' ImpactHK now spends just under HK$5 million a year for rent on offices, sports centres, a community kitchen, and shelters in Tai Kok Tsui, Mong Kok, and Prince Edward, on the private market. It was already in touch with a construction company that had agreed to build the complex on a pro bono basis, meaning the NGO would not have to bear construction costs. Last week, local media outlets, including HKFP, reported public opposition to the plan, particularly from residents in nearby private residential estates in Cheung Sha Wan who were notified of ImpactHK's application as part of a consultation exercise. Residents rallied behind lawmakers and district councillors who met with government officials to oppose the plan. About a week later, on Monday, authorities rejected the NGO's application. The site at the intersection of Sham Mong Road and Sham Shing Road in Cheung Sha Wan, near four private residential estates, was chosen for its proximity to the homeless community in West Kowloon, Rotmeyer said. 'We'd be much more efficient, not just financially, but also our staff will be much more effective in that model.' Rehabilitation The Lands Department said it rejected ImpactHK's application for the shelter after considering not only the plan but also existing shelter services and stakeholders' concerns. In a statement on Thursday, ImpactHK said: 'We hope our Legislative Council members and Hong Kong residents will seek a better understanding of the homeless community to eliminate stigma related to hygiene, noise, and security. These misconceptions do not reflect the reality of the individuals we serve and walk with.' 'This is a setback,' Rotmeyer told HKFP on Friday, adding that the rejection highlighted the greater need for ImpactHK to help Hongkongers understand the plight of the homeless and the importance of community support. Shelters for the homeless have strict regulations prohibiting gambling, drug use, and alcohol consumption, said Ng Wai-tung, a veteran social worker at local NGO the Society for Community Organisation (SoCO). 'Shelters are a place for rehabilitation,' Ng said when asked about residents' concerns regarding hygiene and safety. 'If street sleepers remain unhoused due to a lack of shelters, they will stay on the streets, and those behaviours will continue.' According to a SoCO survey released last week, about 40 per cent of 100 homeless people in Tseung Kwan O interviewed by SoCO and academics from Saint Francis University suffered from at least one addiction, with nearly 17 per cent experiencing three or more. But Ng also noted that moving into shelters was a 'voluntary' process for street sleepers hoping to turn a new leaf, adding that SoCO was also advocating for medical personnel and therapists to be installed at homeless shelters. As of December 2024, there were 672 homeless people registered with the Social Welfare Department, and 228 short-term hostel beds offered by government-supported NGOs, including The Salvation Army and St. James' Settlement – only a 10 per cent increase from the 202 beds available more than a decade ago, he said. Separately, there are 398 beds provided by NGOs on a self-financing basis, of which SoCO itself offers 53. With an annual budget of HK$30 million, ImpactHK receives no funding from the government. Instead, it is supported by the private sector and charities, including the Community Chest and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. ImpactHK's shelters, community centres, counselling centres, and its kitchen and canteen would have been housed in the building and not visible to the public, said Rotmeyer. Meanwhile, the NGO's drop-in centre will remain off-site in Tai Kok Tsui. Rotmeyer acknowledged that some homeless people do struggle with addiction but maintained that programmes and services such as ImpactHK's, including the now-vetoed shelter, would help the homeless overcome struggles that the Cheung Sha Wan residents viewed as 'safety risks.' In addition to its physical facilities, ImpactHK also runs addiction recovery and employment programmes. More than a fifth of the NGO's paid staff have experienced homelessness. 'We're seeing people overcoming addiction issues, overcoming trauma, mental health issues, PTSD. We're seeing that every day,' he said. Many former street sleepers have found work, rented their own flats, and become financially independent after receiving support from ImpactHK, he added. 'When you [peel] back the layers and look at what that individual is trying to escape from or seek peace from, you know that that person needs a lot of love and care and support.' At eight years old – still young by industry standards, Rotmeyer said – the NGO now distributes more than 15,000 meals a month on the streets. Over the past two years, ImpactHK has helped someone off the streets and into its shelter roughly every three days, totalling close to 700 since the NGO was established. 'If we really want to solve homelessness in this city, we need to make sure that people are met with care and support and opportunities, not condemnation, stigma, and judgement,' the NGO's head said. 'You have to have community support in order to really help the most vulnerable. It's a community who are already very hidden and pushed away. And the solution is not to push them away, it's to care for them, right?' 'Equally concerned' Rotmeyer said ImpactHK had reached out to lawmakers for discussions but had not received a response as of Friday night. Tik Chi-yuen, lawmaker for the social welfare sector, did not respond to HKFP's enquiries. Three legislators representing the Kowloon West constituency – Rebecca Chan, Vincent Cheng, and Scott Leung – posted on Facebook nearly two weeks ago about their meetings with Under Secretary for Labour and Welfare Ho Kai-ming and Under Secretary for Development David Lam to convey residents' objections. Cheng, who grew up in one of Hong Kong's poorest neighbourhoods and has campaigned on low-income issues, declined to speak with HKFP. However, he wrote on Facebook on Monday: 'We are equally concerned about the needs of street sleepers and hope the government can find a suitable place to serve them better in the future.' Chan said on Facebook the same day that she welcomed the government's decision but hoped to continue working with officials to identify suitable sites for 'relevant welfare facilities.' Original reporting on HKFP is backed by our monthly contributors. Almost 1,000 monthly donors make HKFP possible. 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South China Morning Post
20-03-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Earnings of Hong Kong's low-income mainland migrants ‘fall below pre-Covid levels'
The earnings of low-income immigrants from mainland China in Hong Kong fell below pre-pandemic levels last year, with the recovery of income levels disrupted by an influx of new workers and a slowdown in consumer spending, a university-led study has found. Advertisement The study, led by Baptist University (HKBU), collected the employment data of 3,236 working-age mainland migrants between 2019 and 2024 through advocacy group the Society for Community Organization (SoCO). The university found that the median income of such residents stood at HK$15,448 (US$1,988) in 2019, before dipping by 4 per cent in 2020. Earning levels bounced back in 2022, then surpassed pre-Covid figures a year later, but dropped again in 2024. 'When the pandemic just ended, people were positive and there was more spending and cross-border movement, which created a lot of job opportunities,' said Cheng Yuk-shing, the director of HKBU's Centre for Sustainable Development Studies. 'It is worrying to see that this period only lasted for a very short time before [the median salary] dropped again.' Advertisement Cheng suggested that aside from providing short-term assistance to meet the immediate needs of low-income migrants, the government should introduce targeted measures to get them back to work to help reduce poverty in the city. SoCO deputy director Sze Lai-shan said another reason for the decrease in median earnings could be due to some industries bringing in workers from elsewhere.
