Section A: Application for Public Housing, Transfer and Subsidized Home Ownership Schemes Chapter 2: Rehousing of Occupants upon Clearance Responsibility of the Housing Department Following the transfer of squatter control and clearance duties from the Housing Department (HD) to the Lands Department on 1 April 2006, the role of HD is confined to providing rehousing assistance to eligible clearees affected by government actions on land clearance for development or other purposes, and to victims of natural disasters and other emergency incidents. In addition, to tie in with the Government's pledge in 2001 to clear 12 000 illegal rooftop structures on 4 500 single-staircase buildings within seven years, the HD provides assistance in rehousing the occupants of illegal rooftop structures displaced by the Buildings Department (BD)'s enforcement actions in accordance with the prevailing housing policies.  As BD has identified some 1 000 additional single-staircase buildings with illegal rooftop structures during the said 7-year period whilst clearance of certain illegal rooftop structures on single-staircase buildings have been deferred due to legal proceedings, coupled with the need for HD to assist BD in tackling those non-single-staircase buildings with illegal rooftop structures which cause imminent hazards or serious nuisances, HD's assistance in rehousing the affected occupants will further extend for two years. Rehousing Criteria for Squatters Affected by Clearance Exercises According to the prevailing policy, the general eligibility criteria for rehousing are summarised as follows- Eligibility for Public Rental Housing (PRH) 1. Affected persons must be genuine residents of a 1982 surveyed domestic structure and covered by the pre-clearance survey;   2. (a) Affected persons must be covered by the 1984 / 85 Squatter Occupancy Survey ; or   (b) Affected persons with proof of two-year residence in a 1982 surveyed domestic structure prior to the date of announcement of squatter area clearance and having satisfied other eligibility criteria of Waiting List (WL) for PRH will be allotted a notional WL application number with a two-year waiting time. Those holding a notional WL application number may then be eligible for PRH under the Anticipatory Housing Scheme with the offer of one-grade-up in the choice of district from the New Territories to Extended Urban Area or from Extended Urban Area to Urban Area. Upon upgrading, only refurbished flats will be offered;   3. At least half of the family members must have lived in Hong Kong (HK) without any conditions of stay for seven years and are still living in HK. Children under the age of 18 who are residing in HK with established HK birth status regardless of their length of residence in HK and their parents' residence status, or those under the age of 18 who are residing in HK regardless of their place of birth if one of their parents has lived in HK without any conditions of stay for seven years, are deemed to have satisfied the seven-year residence rule;   4. During the period from the date of pre-clearance survey up to the date of intake, the applicant or his / her family members must not   (a) own or co-own any domestic property; or   (b) have entered into any agreement to purchase domestic property; or   (c) own more than 50% share in any company which owns domestic property     (Domestic property includes any post-war domestic property, uncompleted domestic property, uncontrolled or self-occupied pre-war domestic property, rooftop structure approved by the Buildings Authority, domestic building lots and Small House Grants in the HK Special Administrative Region); and   5. Persons affected by clearance operations announced on or after 11 September 1998 are subject to a Comprehensive Means Test, and their total family monthly income and net assets value must not exceed the income and net asset limits laid down by the Housing Authority.     Eligibility for Interim Housing (IH) 1. Affected persons must be genuine residents of a 1982 surveyed domestic structure and covered by the pre-clearance survey;   2. Affected persons are not covered by the 1984/85 Squatter Occupancy Survey;   3. Applicant and his/her family members must fulfill the ¡§No Domestic Property¡¨ criterion as detailed in sub-paragraph (4) under the Eligibility for PRH; and   4. Persons affected by clearance operations announced on or after 15 April 1999, must fulfill the criterion as detailed in sub-paragraph (5) under the Eligibility for PRH, i.e. their total family monthly income and net assets value must not exceed the prescribed limits laid down by the Housing Authority. Subsidised Home Ownership Schemes Affected persons having satisfied eligibility for PRH and meeting the prevailing Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) Secondary Market Scheme (SMS) eligibility criteria may choose to apply for purchase of flats in SMS in lieu of rehousing.  They may also apply for purchase of the HOS flats in the Sale Programme of Surplus HOS Flats in lieu of rehousing, provided that they meet the HOS eligibility criteria concerned and the sale programme is available for application. Cash Allowance for Single Persons and Two-person Families Eligible single persons and two-person families may, in lieu of rehousing, opt for cash allowance of which the current rates may be obtained from the Clearance Housing Unit of the HD on request. Such rates are subject to adjustment without prior notice. Recipients of this allowance are ineligible for further payments of the allowance or for any form of public housing in the subsequent two years. Ex-Home Ownership Scheme / Private Sector Participation Scheme / Buy-or-Rent Option Scheme Flat Owners and ex-Loan / Subsidy Recipients under the Home Assistance Loan Scheme or the Home Purchase Loan Scheme Ex-Home Ownership Scheme/Private Sector Participation Scheme/Buy-or-rent Option Scheme flat owners and ex-loan/subsidy recipients under the Home Assistance Loan Scheme or the Home Purchase Loan Scheme and their spouses are debarred from rehousing to PRH. However, their other family members approved to be deleted from the relevant records are not bound by this restriction. Attention Those who are not genuine residents of a clearance area at the time of a pre-clearance survey or fail to fulfill the "no domestic property" criterion are ineligible for rehousing. Families failing the Comprehensive Means Test are ineligible for PRH or IH. Those having a temporary need for housing will be offered IH but their stay there will be restricted to one year, during which they are required to pay licence fee at market level. Where negotiation is taking place between the government and a landlord on the surrender of any private land within a clearance area, the clearees affected, apart from satisfying the eligibility criteria for PRH and IH as stated above, must produce evidence that they have been living in the area since and before the date of the pre-clearance survey or the date of negotiation, whichever is the earlier. Rehousing Criteria for Victims of Fires and Natural Disasters In the event of fire and natural disaster in squatter areas, transit centres will be arranged for those registered victims in need, pending eventual rehousing in accordance with the prevailing rehousing policy. Squatter fire victims who are eligible for PRH will be rehoused to public rental flats in the New Territories. For those who do not fall within this category, allocation of IH will be considered. Permitted occupiers of surveyed domestic squatters affected by landslips or natural disasters will normally be accorded local rehousing, with the proviso that these victims may be allocated housing units in the extended urban area (which includes Tsuen Wan, Shatin and Tseung Kwan O) if no urban units are available. Rehousing Criteria for Occupants of Illegal Rooftop Structures Displaced by the BD's Enforcement Actions To tie in with the BD's enforcement action against illegal rooftop structures on domestic buildings, HD provides assistance in rehousing the displaced occupants of illegal rooftop structures in accordance with the prevailing housing policies.   In rehousing such affected occupants, the same principles and similar eligibility criteria as aforesaid are adopted subject to availability of housing resources.

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