Hong Kong faces tough task to resettle residents of Instagrammable housing estate, waiting times for public flats potentially affected by move: lawmaker, concern group

Secretary for Housing Winnie Ho Wing-yin on Tuesday also said resettlement was a daunting project, but did not confirm whether the rainbow-coloured Choi Hung Estate in eastern Kowloon had been picked for redevelopment.

“Resettlement is like moving chess pieces one by one, it is difficult,” she told a radio show.

“As most old housing estates are located near urban areas where the surrounding areas have already been developed, it is difficult to resettle residents nearby.”

She said the government would consider the capacity for increasing housing density when choosing estates for redevelopment to ensure enough flats would be available once the works were finished.

Ho said the Housing Bureau would also consider the structural quality of the buildings, cost and difficulty of maintenance and repairs, as well as the possibility of resettling residents in the same area.

Her comments came after sources revealed the 60-year-old estate, famed for its rainbow exterior, was set to be redeveloped in stages.

Hong Kong Instagram hotspot Choi Hung Estate set to be ‘redeveloped in stages’

Federation of Public Housing Estates chairman Man Yu-ming said residents were looking forward to the redevelopment given the deteriorating conditions at the site.

“The difficulty lies in the fact that Choi Hung Estate is located in our city centre and is a large-scale housing estate with more than 7,400 households. The redevelopment should be done in two to three stages,” said Man on another radio programme, adding the process would take about 10 to 20 years.

As the estate was made up of 11 blocks of seven- to 20-storey buildings, Man suggested tearing down the shorter ones first to build taller blocks, so they could house more residents in later stages of resettlement.

He suggested moving half of the residents into the 4,100 public flats to be completed in 2025-26 at Wang Chiu Road, but raised concerns about delaying the waiting time for other applicants.

“Of course, we need redevelopment, but it will extend the waiting time for allocation. There won’t be more applicants moving in as resettled residents occupy the new flats.”

He proposed development projects on Lantau Island and in the northern New Territories as potential areas for resettlement.

“If our residents can be more understanding and think about the overall social impact, instead of prioritising their own convenience, then we can speed up the pace of redevelopment.”

Hong Kong public housing tenants to be asked to share personal data for checks

The average waiting time for public housing was 5.3 years as of June, according to the Housing Authority.

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu announced during his policy address last year that the government aimed to shorten it to 4.5 years by 2026-27.

Bill Tang Ka-piu, a legislator for the East Kowloon district, welcomed the possible redevelopment, but voiced concerns about relocating elderly residents to unfamiliar neighbourhoods.

Hong Kong residents express concerns over repair delays for landslide-damaged road

“Many residents have lived in Choi Hung for four to five decades,” he said. “The estate in Wang Chiu Road is nearby and familiar. By relocating them together to a new community, we can preserve this network. It may be a new area, but the familiarity with neighbours will remain.”

“This is the opportune moment for the government to approve the redevelopment, so the new estate can be ready for the residents,” Tang said. “There are no other nearby locations suitable for resettling them.”