Hong Kong’s Housing Authority will introduce two schemes in September to allow owners of subsidised sale flats to lease their properties and to enable elderly households to swap for smaller flats.
The subsidised housing committee of the Housing Authority approved the initiatives on Thursday. Committee chairman Stephen Cheung Yan-leung said the measures aim to revitalise housing resources and provide more rental options for low-to-middle income families.
Under one scheme owners who have held their properties for at least ten years may rent them out to eligible families after paying a fee. The pilot programme has a quota of 3,000 flats.
The second scheme will allow elderly owners to exchange their flats for smaller or more remote ones. Both initiatives seek to ease existing restrictions that prevent leasing or selling without payment of a premium.