A proposal to substitute subdivided units with capsules in industrial buildings
HOUSING CRISIS
Housing crisis has long been an irritating problem for Hong Kong people. According to Demographia (2018), Hong Kong has ranked the top of the least affordable housing market in the world for 8 consecutive years. Among all the issues, sub-divided units (SDU) is of the most prominent and urgent to be deal with as it poses life threats to people. SDU refers to flats being divided into two or more individual rooms, differing from that shown on the approved plan. They are infamous for poor hygiene, unsafe living environment and illegal building structures. The median living area is just 5.3 sq. m, well below Housing Authority 7 sq. m. promise on public housing. (Census and Statistics Department, 2017) Merely in 2017, 7 people were killed in the fire in SDU. However, there are around 100,000 SDU flats in HK with around 200,000 people living in them, charging a whopping rent of HKD 70 per sq. ft. which is equivalent to Taikoo Shing.
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In light of Policy Address 2018, the government proposed the conversion scheme - The Transitional Housing Initiatives. Under the scheme, qualified industrial buildings are eligible to convert into domestic premises in providing transitional housings. Granting of Modification or Exemption under Section 42 (Buildings Department, 2018) is then rolled out, supporting primarily residential flats with illegal subdivided units. According to our interview with Mr. Liu, Under Secretary of Development Bureau, the industrial version will be built on the residential exemption. Relaxation for transitional housing in factories will be mainly about non-provision of kitchen and also lighting, ventilation in bedroom, living area and pantry.
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Society for Community Organization then released a report on a proposal of converting industrial buildings to residential use. SoCO selected three types of industrial buildings with different shapes and layouts, and redesigned the layout and interior according to fire safety regulations and opinions of grassroots family. Currently, there are 124 industrial buildings in total which are suitable for conversion in optimal locations according to the report, benefiting 70,000 people. However, as said by CK Lau, former President of HKIS, adopting SoCO kind model can merely cover the operation cost. Little incentives are provided for the landlord. Therefore, in order to launch the transitional housing scheme in factories effectively, we need a ground-breaking strategy solving the dilemma of losing money while providing affordable housing.