Hong Kong's Estimated 170,000 Sub-divided Flats

[walkup]

More than 171,000 people are living in substandard, subdivided flats in Hong Kong, it was claimed yesterday.

The estimate is more than double the total of 64,900 given by the Census and Statistics Department last October.

And the figure is thought to be even higher as researchers could not examine illegal homes in industrial buildings, said the secretary for transport and housing, Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung.

The study was commissioned by the government to give a first indication of the scale of the problem.

Cheung said after a meeting of the Long Term Housing Strategy Steering Committee yesterday: "I can't say whether it's a large or small number, or whether there's an increase, because this is the first time we've done it. But as we draw up the housing strategy, we'll take the data into account."

http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/a...ts-put-171000?

[DarrenChan]

If I recall the figures correctly, the population increased from 6-7 million in the past 15 years. Housing stock had not increased by 15% and we now see the result of government inaction.

[Watercooler]

170,000? I don't think that's gonna make a difference to the HK gov. They won't react until the problem threatens to topple them. Maybe 500,000 might do the trick.

[virago]

I thought the figure was more like 200,000 subdivided flats.

Sent from somewhere....

[Pokfulam mom]

Not just flats, the government seems not working at all and ignoring in many sectors. Sadly nothing can be done.

[walkup]

Hong Kong's subdivided flat dwellers pay more rent for less space
Study details cramped conditions that workers and even university-educated tenants endure
Wednesday, 29 May, 2013, 5:37am
Joyce Ng SCMP
Residents of subdivided flats are squeezed into an average living space of just 68 square feet - half the space that people living in public housing have - and per square foot they pay a premium of almost 28 per cent to typical market rents, a study has found.

The figures from the government-commissioned research come a day after the housing minister said around 170,000 Hongkongers are living in such small, substandard homes.

The study also found that almost 9 per cent of sampled residents of subdivided flats were not low-wage workers but in fact had completed tertiary education.
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/a...nt-less-space?

[closedcasket]

Just another symptom of overpopulation (the root cause). Too many people living in too small a space.

[cheepo]

Rather, I think its a symptom of the government not wanting to release land. That Hong Kong is land scarce is a big fairytale.

[closedcasket]

Rather, I think its a symptom of the government not wanting to release land. That Hong Kong is land scarce is a big fairytale.

Really? 7 million plus people on 1000 sq km isn't enough people? Sure there is more land to build on, but what about infrastructure and environmental concerns? Traffic isn't bad enough already? The air is polluted enough? Waterways not dirty enough? Wildlife depleted enough? Countryside littered enough?

This entire region needs less people, not more. Plenty of other places on the planet to expand population.

[wtbhotia]

Here a youtube ad taking the piss of the sub-divided flats posted by Chris-Yang in an other thread.

16.4sq/ft per room, wow that sure is maximizing the number of occupants in an single apartment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKf0...ature=youtu.be