2024-05-31 28Hse Editor
The issue of housing for young people has always been a major concern. In his first Policy Address since taking office last year, Chief executive Lee Ka-chiu proposed to expand the Youth Hostel Scheme by subsidising NGOs to rent rooms in suitable hotels and guesthouses and convert them into youth hostels, aiming to provide an additional 3,000 places in five years.
The ‘BeLIVING Youth Hub’, the first hotel-turned-youth hostel project in Causeway Bay, was officially opened in late March this year. Occupants will be required to do 200 hours of ‘Be Good Neighbour’ activities each year, including value-based youth activities, community outreach activities and self-organised social activities.
The project has a total of 97 rooms, with an area of 176 to 324 square feet. Each unit can accommodate one to two people, and a maximum of 194 places are provided. There are six options for accommodation, covering standard room types A to C, ideal room types A, B, and superior room types, usually with a double bed or two single beds, and rental prices range from HK$3,800 to HK$4,800.
Applicants must be aged between 18 and 30 and can choose to apply for either one or two persons. Their monthly income must not exceed 75 per cent of the monthly earned income of an employed person aged between 18 and 30 in that year. Based on the current data, the monthly income of a one-person applicant should not exceed HK$25,000 and the total assets should not exceed HK$380,000. Meanwhile, the monthly income of two-person applicants should not exceed HK$50,000 and their total assets should not exceed HK$760,000.
Youth hostels have been criticized for being a band-aid solution and not a long-term solution. The Our United Hong Kong Foundation recently released the results of its study on youth home ownership and social mobility, which revealed that Hong Kong youths encounter many difficulties in home ownership, and measures to boost youth home ownership.
The Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) is the choice of many ‘sandwich class’ youths, a term referring to the lower-middle class. However, the ballot system has made it difficult for them to purchase a home. According to a study conducted by the Legislative Council, the success rate of applicants aged 30 or above in the Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) 2017, for example, is only three per cent, while that of applicants aged below 30 is lower than one per cent.
According to Jason Leung Yeuk-ho, a researcher at the Our Hong Kong Foundation, the government’s Youth Hostel Scheme and "Starter Homes" Pilot Scheme for Hong Kong Residents only helps the two lowest and highest income groups of youths, while the ‘sandwich class’ young people are not benefited.
In view of this, the Our Hong Kong Foundation has put forward three major proposals, including extending the guarantee period for HOS mortgages, fully opening up the secondary market to unlock more home ownership opportunities, and adjusting the subsidised housing lottery system to make the best use of existing resources.
Among the proposals, the most controversial is the full opening of the secondary market. The Foundation proposes to gradually cancel the annual quota and deadline for purchasing the Certificate of Eligibility, to release the existing supply of 414,400 subsidised housing units without land premium, increasing choices for young people.
However, in fact, the introduction of White House II has stimulated the increase in subsidized housing transactions. Many new HOS owners who have held the property for just a few years have sold their goods to make a profit, and the book profit has been multiplied. Described as a "cash cow".
However, the launch of the White Form Secondary Market Scheme has in fact stimulated an increase in the number of subsidised housing transactions. Many new HOS owners who held property for just a few years have sold their flats at profits.
Therefore, the full opening of the White Home Ownership Scheme (BHOS) market will undoubtedly increase the number of home ownership options for young people – but counterproductively, it may lead to a massive increase in market demand, which will further stimulate property prices in the secondary housing market and affect the home ownership opportunities of low- and middle-income families.
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