Hong Kong – Housing Bureau to launch “Trial Scheme on Special Allowance for Households of Transitional Housing” tomorrow
Housing Bureau to launch “Trial Scheme on Special Allowance for Households of Transitional Housing” tomorrow
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The Housing Bureau (HB) will launch the “Trial Scheme on Special Allowance for Households of Transitional Housing” (“Trial Scheme”) tomorrow (August 22) to provide assistance to the new households of transitional housing for removal and adaptation to the new community.
The “Trial Scheme” provides a one-off special allowance for new households of transitional housing projects under the “Funding Scheme to Support Transitional Housing Projects by Non-government Organisations” to alleviate their pressure arising from expenditures during removal and adaptation to the new living environment (such as children’s school transfer, moving/purchasing furniture and electrical appliances, re-establishing community networks, etc.). There is no restriction on the use of the subsidy so as to allow households to meet their own needs in a more flexible manner. The scheme is targeted at households who have moved into transitional housing units on or after June 16, 2023. The households receiving the allowance will have to stay in the unit for at least one year, and will not be granted the allowance for a second time thereafter.
The spokesperson of the HB said, “The HB noticed that many of the households moving into transitional housing are low-income grassroots people who may not be able to afford the relocation expenses. Therefore, the HB successfully applied to the Commission on Poverty on June 16 this year for a funding of $85.2 million from the Community Care Fund to support the two-year “Trial Scheme”, with a view to providing the households with timely support and encouragement. It is estimated to benefit as many as 35 000 people.”
The amount of disbursement depends on the number of family members living together in the household and the region of the project they are moving into. The amount of disbursable allowances is listed in the table below:
| Region of the Transitional Housing Project | ||
| Urban and Extended Urban |
New Territories and Islands | |
| Household Size | Special Allowance Amount ($) | |
| 1-person | 1,800 | 3,650 |
| 2-person | 2,700 | 5,450 |
| 3-person | 3,550 | 7,100 |
| 4-person | 4,200 | 8,450 |
| 5-person | 4,850 | 9,700 |
| 6-person or above | 5,750 | 11,550 |
The households can submit an application for the allowance to the operating organisations when completing the procedures in taking up the allocated transitional housing unit. The operating organisations will disburse the allowance within 20 working days after receiving the application. If the applicant approved for the allowance has not yet moved into the project at that time, it will be disbursed within 10 working days after formally moving in.
Application forms and details will be available from the operating organisations of transitional housing projects or can be downloaded from the website of the HB (www.hb.gov.hk/eng/policy/housing/policy/transitional/index.html) starting from tomorrow. For enquiries, please call the Task Force on Transitional Housing under HB at 3579 5549.
Development Bureau imposes regulating actions on contractor involved in fatal work accident at North Kwai Chung Tang Shiu Kin Sports Centre
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The spokesman said that the contractor concerned was under the List of Approved Contractors for Public Works and the List of Approved Suppliers of Materials and Specialist Contractors for Public Works of the DEVB. The DEVB issued a notification to the contractor concerned last night (August 8) to suspend it from tendering for the relevant category of public works contracts with immediate effect. The contractor concerned has to conduct an independent safety audit to review its safety management system. Taking cognisance of the outcome of the independent safety audit, the contractor is required to submit an improvement action plan and implement improvement measures, with a view to demonstrating that it has an effective safety management system before uplifting of the suspension from tendering can be considered. The suspension from tendering is not only confined to future tender exercises, but is also applicable to tender exercises with procedures initiated but not concluded.
The DEVB may impose further regulating actions on the contractor concerned afterwards, subject to the investigation findings of the fatal work accident.
Health Bureau responses to chronic disease care services provided for socially disadvantaged groups and Chronic Disease Co-Care Pilot Scheme
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The HHB is concerned about the media report that an elderly person who was hospitalised twice for high blood pressure but had not continued her medical treatment and follow-up consultation at a General Out-patient Clinic (GOPC). As the patient already had a medical history of hypertension and had received appropriate treatment during her two stays in hospitals, she would not be a target participant of the screening service provided under the CDCC Scheme. The media concerned did not consult the HHB about this case beforehand. By the sketchy information provided in the report, the HHB is unable to verify the information and extend assistance to this particular elderly person so that she can receive proper medical follow-up as early as possible. The media report may be misleading and may give rise to public misunderstanding about chronic disease treatment and the CDCC Scheme.
The CDCC Scheme is the first significant project launched under the Primary Healthcare Blueprint, with a view to preventing worsening of chronic disease and occurrence of complication through early identification and early treatment. It concerns the wellbeing of the general public and the sustainability of the healthcare system. The HHB strives to explain the CDCC Scheme to stakeholders and members of the public, and listen to the views of all parties. At the same time, the Government expects that the media would actively disseminate correct messages and reflect views accurately by adhering to the principles of meticulousness, accuracy and impartiality when reporting on subjects of close relevance to the health of the members of the public.
All Hong Kong residents aged 45 or above can join the CDCC Scheme. To encourage citizens to take up primary responsibility for managing their own health, the CDCC Scheme adopts a Government-participant co-payment model. Apart from the Government’s subsidies, participating citizens are also required to bear partial costs as a way to shoulder the responsibility for their own health. The tentative levels of the Government’s subsidies and participants’ co-payments are stated at Annex.
The HHB reiterated that the public healthcare system would continue to be the basic safety net for grassroots, in particular the socially disadvantaged groups. Persons with financial difficulties (including recipients of Comprehensive Social Security Assistance and Old Age Living Allowance) will continue to enjoy the protection of the safety net under the public healthcare system comprising services provided by parties such as the Hospital Authority (HA) and the Department of Health. The introduction of the CDCC Scheme will not affect the appropriate healthcare services provided for the grassroots citizens under the public healthcare system.
Enhancing primary healthcare services will help alleviate the pressure on the secondary and tertiary healthcare services in the long run. In fact, a crucial factor leading to the growing pressure on public healthcare services is the imbalance between primary healthcare services and the secondary and tertiary healthcare services. Cross-specialties collaboration and public-private partnership have yet to attain their desired level of efficiency while quite a number of non-urgent cases of relative stable condition have not been effectively triaged back to primary healthcare or family doctors for more efficient, suitable and effective follow-up.
While introducing the CDCC Scheme, the Government will gradually reposition the service of HA’s GOPCs with a view to optimising the use of public resources. According to the recommendations set out in the Primary Healthcare Blueprint, the HA’s GOPCs should prioritise to serve the socially disadvantaged groups, in particular low-income families and poor elderly. Through the CDCC Scheme, citizens with better financial capability can be triaged to family doctors in the private healthcare sector for health management, thereby alleviating the pressure on the public healthcare system and sparing its capacity to better serve citizens with financial needs. This will include exploring the inclusion of appropriate chronic disease screening and management services to the priority groups of socially disadvantaged groups in accordance with the clinical protocol and pathway of the CDCC Scheme after the repositioning of GOPC service.
Housing Bureau launches central common application form for transitional housing (with photo)
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Through this form, the applicants can apply for up to three transitional housing projects at the same time with different priorities based on their individual needs. Once the forms and supporting documents are received, the HB will first centrally and preliminarily process the applications, and then refer them to the respective operating organisations for follow-up based on the applicants’ priority.
An HB spokesperson said, “After unifying the format, distribution and collection method of the form, applicants no longer need to submit separate applications to different transitional housing projects. This not only makes it more convenient for the applicants but also reduces the administrative work and processing time for the operation organisations. This will speed up the matching process and improve the living environment of the applicants as soon as possible.”
The form is distributed and collected through various channels, including the one-stop thematic transitional housing website (www.hb.gov.hk/eng/policy/housing/policy/transitional/tenantapplications.html), various operating organisations, the Transitional Housing Information Counter (located in the Hong Kong Housing Authority Customer Service Centre), and the Cash Allowance Office of the Housing Department.
In addition to the form, the HB is actively preparing to set up a unified platform to facilitate online applications for transitional housing. The unified platform is tentatively planned to be launched in the third quarter of 2023.
The Government has been promoting the development of transitional housing in the past few years. By actively assisting non-governmental organisations to make use of short-term vacant land and premises, about 7 000 units have been put into service so far to alleviate the housing difficulties faced by applicants waiting for traditional public rental housing and those who are inadequately housed.
Security Bureau responds to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan
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Hong Kong – Development Bureau imposes regulating actions on contractor involved in fatal work accident at North Kwai Chung Tang Shiu Kin Sports Centre
A spokesman for the Development Bureau (DEVB) said today (August 9) that the Government attached great importance to construction safety. In response to the fatal work accident at North Kwai Chung Tang Shiu Kin Sports Centre on August 7, the DEVB has suspended the contractor concerned from tendering for public works contracts pursuant to the regulating regime.Hong Kong – Health Bureau responses to chronic disease care services provided for socially disadvantaged groups and Chronic Disease Co-Care Pilot Scheme
Regarding a media report on the Chronic Disease Co-Care Pilot Scheme (CDCC Scheme) published today (July 17), the Health Bureau (HHB) reiterated that the CDCC Scheme targets citizens aged 45 or above who are not aware of having hypertension, diabetes mellitus or related symptoms. By providing subsidy to cover part of the costs as an incentive, the Government aims to encourage citizens to receive early screening in order to get better understanding of their own health status, so as to achieve the objectives of preventing diseases before occurrence, and managing diseases at an early stage.Hong Kong – Housing Bureau launches central common application form for transitional housing (with photo)
To further facilitate the application for transitional housing by those in need, the Housing Bureau (HB) has strengthened its co-ordination and improved the application process. A central common application form is launched today (June 20) to help the public make one-stop application for different transitional housing projects. Hong Kong – Security Bureau responds to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan
Noting that the United States (US) House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, who is on a visit to Asia, has arrived in Taiwan yesterday evening (August 2), the Security Bureau of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government expressed strong opposition to the US ignoring the firm position repeatedly stated by the People’s Republic of China and going ahead with the visit to Taiwan.
The Preamble of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China clearly stipulates that Taiwan is part of the sacred territory of the People’s Republic of China. For a US politician to go ahead with a visit to Taiwan is an act that attempts to challenge the sovereignty, unification and territorial integrity of the country.
It is obvious that safeguarding national security falls within the internal affairs of every sovereign state. The arbitrary and unreasonable bullying act by the US House Speaker has seriously violated international norms and grossly interfered in China’s internal affairs.
It is the common responsibility of all the people of China, including the people of Hong Kong, to safeguard the sovereignty, unification and territorial integrity of the People’s Republic of China. The HKSAR Government strongly condemns any acts that challenge the sovereignty, unification and territorial integrity of the country.
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