Hong Kong’s leader has called on young people not to waste “potential and opportunities” by “deliberately” depressing their income below the limit allowed to apply for public housing.
Speaking to reporters ahead of his weekly Executive Council meeting on Tuesday, Chief Executive John Lee said he had heard of some people ensuring that their earnings remained below the monthly income limit in an effort to be allocated a government-subsidised unit.
According to the Housing Authority, the income limit for single applicants is HK$12,940 per month, or HK$19,730 for a two-person family. The average waiting time for public housing was 5.7 years, as of March.
Lee urged young singletons in the queue for public housing to re-examine their personal development.
“That is not the way. We want to clearly tell people that the Hong Kong I hope to see is built on the backbone of the family unit,” he said in Cantonese, adding that it was for the sake of the “overall harmony and stability” of society.
The chief executive urged young people to work towards their aspirations and to reconsider settling for public housing. “If you give up on your dreams simply because of a public housing unit, I believe that would be regrettable,” he said.
Lee’s remarks came after the Housing Authority released statistics showing that some 52 per cent of public rental housing applicants had either undergraduate or postgraduate degrees in 2022, up almost 20 per cent from 2013.
In March, the average monthly rent for a public housing unit was HK$2,297. According to Numbeo, a website that calculates the cost of living in cities around the world, the average monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the city centre was around HK$18,600, or HK$12,800 for a one-bed flat outside the city centre.
In first quarter of 2024, the median monthly household income of economically active households citywide stood at HK$39,700. As of April, economically active public rental housing households made around HK$26,500 on average, according to official figures.
Chasing dreams
Lee also attempted to assuage concerns about homeownership for young people, citing measures to help first-time home buyers.
“A place to live is important, but your potential and opportunities should not be wasted. It’s very likely that your ultimate achievements and results will outweigh the satisfaction of a public housing unit by a hundred times, or even infinity,” he said.
“If everyone chases their dreams, that would be be for the good of Hong Kong’s development,” Lee said.
Housing minister Winnie Ho had earlier made similar comments at a seminar.
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“If you start queuing for public housing so early on, you will have to manage your asset and income limits all the time, thus hindering your own development. This is a distortion of one’s life,” she said.
Last week, Director of Housing Rosanna Law said the government encouraged young people to strive for upward mobility and not to “lie flat” while relying on public housing.
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