Michael Choi, a key advisor who helped Chief Executive CY Leung formulate his housing policy platform during the CE election campaign, says the housing issue is the most important livelihood issue in Hong Kong.

The means to ease that threat are along the route that the government is committed to follow to increase the supply of land available for housing and to build on it, Choi said.

If people do not have a decent place to live, they will become dissatisfied and that will be harmful to social stability.

Choi has known Leung for more than 30 years and knows his thinking. The two men worked together in the same surveying firm for six years in the 1980s.

Speaking to China Daily, Choi says Leung's housing policy aims to help the grassroots through public rental flats and to assist the middle class to buy homes, while maintaining a stable, healthy development of the property market.

When there is a stable housing supply, Choi said, the government will consider providing loans (low interest or interest-free) to prospective home buyers.

"(Leung) wants to build more public rental flats and speed up construction by 12 to 15 months, as well as to resume the Home Ownership Scheme (HOS)," said Choi.

"He is very keen on finding more sites for more houses. Apart from conversion of industrial buildings for residential purposes, he is eyeing idled government properties and sites earmarked for recreational use, yet lacking in any immediate development plans."

Choi observed that there has been inadequate housing supply in the past five years due to insufficient land supply. Furthermore, lower plot ratios were applied for private sector housing development as a result of opposition by green groups which argued buildings are too close to one another and thus yield an undesirable wall effect.

Choi says there should be a balance between environmental protection and housing needs, knowing that more houses should be built to accommodate people living in sub-divided and partitioned flats.

To increase the housing supply in the short term, he suggests that some 1,000 flats under phase one of My Home Purchase Plan - which was designed by the previous government for sale or for hire - should be limited to "for sale" only.

Together with 800 unsold HOS flats, they would inspire confidence among buyers when they see that there is a certain supply in the housing market. The Land Department, he added, should expedite the vetting process for pre-completed flats by six to nine months.

Choi said the actual production of new homes should be determined by an objective, scientific long-term housing strategy, with the aim to evaluate housing demand and the needs of public housing applicants. He understands that the government is going to undertake a long term planning strategy.

He thinks more than the average annual output of 15,000 units are needed, adding that 5,000 HOS flats per year should be used as a benchmark for the relaunch.

Choi, who is also a member of the Housing Authority, said it is necessary for the authority to analyze the needs of the close to 190,000 applicants on the waiting list for public rental flats.

"For example, how many years have they waited on average, do they want large or small flats or do they prefer to live in urban areas, extended urban areas or rural areas? If the answer is more small flats are needed, the same site can yield an additional 20 percent in the number of flats," he explained.

joseph@chinadailyhk.com

(HK Edition 08/28/2012 page1)