{"id":5790,"date":"2025-01-22T16:19:08","date_gmt":"2025-01-22T08:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.boasecohencollins.com\/?p=5790"},"modified":"2025-01-22T16:19:11","modified_gmt":"2025-01-22T08:19:11","slug":"a-window-of-opportunity-awaits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.boasecohencollins.com\/zh-hant\/%e7%b6%b2%e8%aa%8c\/a-window-of-opportunity-awaits\/","title":{"rendered":"A window of opportunity awaits"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hong Kong, 22 January 2025: <\/strong>A lonely young lady, a middle-aged couple, a professional dancer and a songwriter at his piano \u2013 these and other neighbours are spied on by photographer LB “Jeff” Jeffries, confined to his apartment with a broken leg, in the classic 1954 thriller Rear Window<\/em>. Jeff spends long days and nights shamelessly observing their lives simply to relieve his boredom, but events take a sinister turn when he begins to suspect one of them of murder \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our city\u2019s Housing Authority is hardly expecting anything so macabre, but it would still like to know if your fellow residents have been up to no good. It is offering rewards<\/a> of up to HK$3,000 for reporting neighbours who abuse the public housing system. Typical examples include subletting, using a flat for commercial purposes, or making false declarations about income, assets or marital status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A wad of cash in return for whistleblowing, then. Housing minister Winnie Ho is all for it and insists relations between residents, rather than being undermined, will improve as a result. \u201cIf someone is using a flat inappropriately, they are the one destroying neighbourly relations,\u201d she counters. But what if citizens start stalking, eavesdropping or \u2013 heaven forbid \u2013 secretly recording conversations with suspects to gather incriminating evidence? Always abide by the law, she advises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Public flats with cheap subsidised rents are home to about 800,000 Hong Kong households. Providing affordable accommodation for those with low incomes, they are much coveted. The average waiting time to obtain one is five and a half years. There are 122,000 families in the queue, many living in tiny, poor quality, subdivided flats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet abuse of the system takes place. Some tenants are wealthy enough not to need a public flat, but keep it anyway. Others sublet to strangers. A tiny minority use it as a business. Progress has been made following a requirement that residents declare their assets and income every two years, which has led to the government recovering 2,800 flats in the 2023-24 financial year. The new scheme, which rewards residents when concrete evidence leads to a flat being reclaimed, is an attempt to root out the remaining offenders. It is expected to lead to a doubling in the number of tip-offs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not everyone is convinced. \u201cIt speaks to the government\u2019s own view of its people: that people will only do the right thing if rewarded financially,\u201d observes South China Morning Post<\/em> columnist Alice Wu<\/a>, who points out that an act of altruism now has a price tag on it. With money a potential motivation, someone might be inclined to settle a grudge or exaggerate an allegation. Our government, however, is confident the reward scheme will not be manipulated, since informers are required reveal their identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For offenders, however, losing the flat may only be the start of their worries. They could soon be locked up. A new law<\/a> is in the pipeline that will make it a criminal offence to sublet a public flat or use it for commercial purposes. The proposed penalties are up to a year in prison and a HK$500,000 maximum fine. \u201cWe have seen cases in which flats are turned into tutorial centres, gyms or storage sites,\u201d reveals Housing Authority member Cleresa Wong. The proposals will be debated by lawmakers next month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Families crammed in subdivided homes, waiting patiently for a public flat, have more immediate concerns. They believe government proposals to gradually phase out the cramped units are not radical enough<\/a>. Hong Kong has 110,000 subdivided flats and the administration aims to eradicate the lowest-quality ones while allowing the rest to remain \u2013 for the time being \u2013 as \u201cbasic housing units\u201d. These must be a minimum of 86 sq ft (that\u2019s smaller than a parking space, folks) and have an individual toilet, plus at least one window. But a poll of residents reveals only 10% think their homes meet the criteria while 60% think the minimum size is too low. The government should be setting standards based on household size, insists the Society for Community Organisation, publisher of the survey. Its deputy director Sze Lai-shan points out, not unreasonably, that a flat which meets the minimum floor space is still \u201cextremely cramped\u201d for a family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Housing is also the biggest concern for the Children\u2019s Rights Association in its annual review<\/a> of Hong Kong\u2019s efforts to help impoverished youngsters. \u201cThe government has not made much progress on its policies addressing social challenges such as poverty, the wealth gap, medical care and welfare,\u201d opines one of the NGO\u2019s 20 child ambassadors, 11-year-old Lau Yui. His group gives the authorities an overall score of 26 out of 100 \u2013 an improvement, at least, on the previous tally of 21.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A stone\u2019s throw \u2013 but a world away \u2013 from the packed tenements of Yau Tsim Mong sits our city\u2019s glamorous new arts hub, the West Kowloon Cultural District. This, too, will have housing one day, as its cash-strapped governing body \u2013 reeling from a deficit of HK$1.33 billion in 2023-24 \u2013 is now being allowed to sell parcels of land<\/a> to build nearly 2,000 flats. Bullish West Kowloon Cultural District Authority development chief Wendy Gan is promising to incorporate artistic elements into the apartment blocks and inevitable shopping mall. She cites residences next to the famed Louvre in Paris as a role model. Local councillors are less sure<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In closing, we should note Hong Kong has just staged a hugely successful Asian Financial Forum<\/a>, attracting 3,600 executives from more than 50 jurisdictions. It was another landmark event as our city seeks to strengthen its role as an international financial centre and, especially, a global wealth hub that attracts high net worth individuals. Currently, we are home to some 2,700 single-family offices. In this regard, our chief rival is Singapore, which seems to be doing just fine<\/a>. The number of such offices there has now reached 2,000 \u2013 a year on year increase of 43% \u2013 and second finance minister Chee Hong Tat predicts continued rapid growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hong Kong take note. After all, as LB Jeffries knows \u2013 and our Housing Authority proves \u2013 it pays to keep an eye on your neighbour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until next time, everybody!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colin Cohen<\/strong>
Senior Partner<\/strong>
Boase Cohen & Collins<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hong Kong, 22 January 2025: A lonely young lady, a midd […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5787,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-53"],"yoast_head":"\nA window of opportunity awaits - \u5e03\u9ad8\u6c5f\u5f8b\u5e2b\u884c<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.boasecohencollins.com\/zh-hant\/%e7%b6%b2%e8%aa%8c\/a-window-of-opportunity-awaits\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"zh_TW\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A window of opportunity awaits - \u5e03\u9ad8\u6c5f\u5f8b\u5e2b\u884c\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hong Kong, 22 January 2025: A lonely young lady, a midd […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.boasecohencollins.com\/zh-hant\/%e7%b6%b2%e8%aa%8c\/a-window-of-opportunity-awaits\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"\u5e03\u9ad8\u6c5f\u5f8b\u5e2b\u884c\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-01-22T08:19:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-01-22T08:19:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.boasecohencollins.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/HUNDRED48cov_PHOTO2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1828\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"866\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Niall Donnelly\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"\u4f5c\u8005:\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Niall Donnelly\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"\u9810\u4f30\u95b1\u8b80\u6642\u9593\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 \u5206\u9418\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boasecohencollins.com\/zh-hant\/%e7%b6%b2%e8%aa%8c\/a-window-of-opportunity-awaits\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.boasecohencollins.com\/zh-hant\/%e7%b6%b2%e8%aa%8c\/a-window-of-opportunity-awaits\/\",\"name\":\"A window of opportunity awaits - 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