Case Study (pt. 1)

Case Study

The case study I examined is ‘Subdivided Housing Issues of Hong Kong: Causes and Solutions’ by Daniel Dwan, Meghan Sawicki, and Jeffery Wong.

The background:

Hong Kong is the center of Asian trade, and has become one of the most densely populated cities in the world. The city lacks space for development.

The problem:

The population increase lead to overcrowding in residential areas, leading to very high housing prices. This in turn results in the poor housing conditions of low income families who cannot afford standard housing.

Subdivided flats are traditional single-family apartments that are divided into two or more individual dwellings. These dwellings are often extremely cramped, unventilated, unsanitary, and generally hazardous to residents. Conditions in many of these buildings are deplorable, sometimes consisting of crumbling concrete, dangerous electrical wiring, and overall filth. The fire exits are often blocked, and the additional weight caused by subdividing puts the buildings in the risk of collapsing. The living space allocated to each person is also inhumanly small (some cage houses only allow each person less than 1.5 square meters).

The government is trying to increase the number of public units, but the amount is not enough to accommodate Hong Kong’s lower class.

How they researched the problem:

• They did an in-depth research to find the roots of the problem.

• They analyzed the government’s current position on this issue.

• They survey the public on their view on this issue. They interviewed many people frm different backgrounds and also interviewed Platform Concerning Subdivided Housing and Issues in Hong Kong, a concerned non-government organization.

Results from research:

They found out that the root of the problem is interconnected with each other. It is mainly due to the imbalance between the demand and supply of housing available. There is also the lack of space for development and land constraint for building residential units. Another factor they found that affects the low living conditions of low class families is the malpractice done by landlords. The landlords and tenants often have non-written agreements. These allows the landlords to take advantage of the poor and uneducated tenants by overcharging them, rising rent fees according to will, and evict tenants without notice.

Also, while the Hong Kong government has attempted to limit virgin land consumption and construction for new residential buildings, the prices of aging, existing structures have been allowed to inflate exponentially.

It is evident that the subdivided housing issue has gained increasing government attention over the past few years. Despite clear government awareness to the issue, effective measures to curb the problem have yet to be seen. Even after the government stepped up its issuance of removal orders to homes such as these, enforcement was less than adequate.

Despite past failures in decreasing flat subdivision, Hong Kong’s newest Chief Executive, Leung Chun-Ying, and his administration have sworn to give the issue its highest priority. Leung’s maiden policy address was highly focused on housing, specifically the improvement of living quality for Hong Kong’s poorest citizens.

In their interviews, they discovered that both low class and middle-upper class families understand the cause of the abundance of subdivided housing. Both are discontent and demand actions from the government. The only difference is between their attitude towards the issue, with the low class having more realistic expectations compared to middle-upper class’ optimistic and rather impractical opinion.

Solutions:

The offered solutions:

• Increase land availability for residential construction.
•  Expand and Accelerate Public Rental Housing Construction Plans.
• Reform Public Rental Housing Policies.
• Crackdown on Landlords.

Drawbacks/weaknesses:

• Hong Kong’s economy may suffer if they lower the housing prices too much.
• Need a lot of effort and commitment from the government.