Setting rent with reference to tenants' affordability: Public housing rent policy in Hong Kong
Tóm tắt
Hong Kong is one of the housing systems inwhich public tenants' affordability has beenincorporated in the rent-setting mechanism inwhich the median rent-to-income measurement isemployed as an explicit indicator ofaffordability. However, contravening policiesin the public housing sector make such a simplerent-setting formula complicated. A moredetailed analysis of the rent-setting mechanismalso reveals that the arbitrarily picked upreference ratio is incapable of catering forthe wide variety of circumstances amongtenants. At the same time, there is also someinconsistency in adopting a unifiedaffordability standard in different aspects ofrent setting. Lastly, the endorsement ofaffordability as an overarching principle inrent setting is prone to introducecontradictions in the system. The level of rentmay bear a close relation to the circumstancesof the occupants but not to the conditions ofthe dwelling. Affordability as amarket-oriented principle would also weaken thelegitimacy of the public rental sector as abasically supply-side oriented regime.
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