Housing in Hong Kong is the least affordable you will find anywhere in the world, a title the city has retained for more than a decade. The city’s government now has a plan to rehouse those living in the worst conditions. But some critics say it is just delaying real solutions.
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00:00In Hong Kong, real estate is king, if you're well off.
00:08But for those locked out of the city's notoriously expensive market, there are these homes, flats
00:14subdivided into just enough space to live.
00:18Here, one person lives, and there's another person living upstairs.
00:24You can see, this apartment has 26 rooms.
00:29Several of us work in restaurants, tour security guards, or work night shifts.
00:33Advocates say there are well over 200,000 people living in premises like this.
00:39Actually, they are single people, but also the family with children.
00:43We estimate there are around 50,000 children living in these kind of conditions.
00:49Hong Kong's leader John Lee wants to phase out all subdivided flats smaller than eight
00:54square metres and those that don't have a window or individual toilet.
00:58But critics say that will only make the housing crisis worse.
01:02They have nowhere to go.
01:04They are waiting for public housing, but they don't know when they will really get one.
01:09To help alleviate the huge public housing waiting list, the government plans to build
01:1430,000 temporary units that it calls light public housing.
01:19Here in Kai Tak, there are plans for 10,000 temporary units near the train station.
01:24Locals aren't happy, but are afraid of speaking out.
01:28Whether the transport station, the social facility, whether it can support this population,
01:34I heard a lot of concern in the neighbourhood.
01:37Like housing crises around the world, there are no quick or easy answers.
01:42Eventually, we hope there's no subdivided flats or caged homes in Hong Kong.
01:47So we think they should include them, and then have a timetable to eradicate this kind
01:52of housing.