Page 4 - 20190415_LandAdvocacy_EN

Executive Summary

During the period of the Task Force on Land Supply’s (TFLS) public consultation, public attention to the land and housing crisis
was at its peak. Since the turn of the year, however, despite the perennial severity of the crisis, attention towards the issue has
petered out. The city, it seems, has let its guard down. Once again, people seem oblivious to the fact that we are all collectively
still in the midst of a crisis. Unfortunately, Our Hong Kong Foundation’s updated forecasts show that the worst is yet to come.
A continual depletion of the city’s land bank means that sharp drops will be seen in both private and public housing supply in
a few years’ time. Meanwhile, large-scale solutions such as reclamation are far in the horizon while expedient solutions have
reached the end of their tether.

The pressing issues highlighted in this report make it imperative that we keep our guards up. The severity of the crisis demands
constant vigilance out of all of us. We appeal to the community to play their part in the combined efforts to alleviate the situation.
There is already a shortage of bandages to dress the wounds – we need everyone to work together to be able to solve the
problem.

Hanging on the Housing Supply Cliff – Housing Crisis Likely to Worsen

1. Hong Kong’s low living space per capita and high density of land use greatly affect the average citizen’s quality of living.
While efforts by different parties have boosted the supply of land and housing in recent years, the city is still in the depths of
a severe housing supply crisis, and it is only expected to worsen. Housing supply is failing to catch up with its past shortfall,
as manifested by the ever lengthening waiting time for public housing.
2. Private Housing Supply:

i. The Government recently changed the public-private ratio of the housing supply target from 60:40 to 70:30 in the Long
Term Housing Strategy (LTHS). The revision of the target, however, is a zero-sum game, as it only recasts the public-
private housing mix without raising the overall target. This does not properly address the cumulative shortfall incurred
from the past. In 2013 - 2017 alone, the cumulative shortfall for both private and public units is 99,000.

2