Section A: Application for Public Housing, Transfer and Subsidized Home Ownership Schemes Chapter 10: Home Assistance Loan Scheme The Home Assistance Loan Scheme (HALS) was introduced in January 2003. It aimed to offer financial assistance to help eligible applicants to acquire home ownership. The HALS also enabled the Housing Authority (HA) and the Housing Society to recover rental housing flats for re-allocation to families in need. Eligible applicants (family group) were entitled to an interest-free loan of $530,000 (repayable over 13 years) or $390,000 (repayable over 20 years), or a monthly mortgage subsidy of $3,800 (payable for 48 months). The loan and subsidy amount for single-person applicants was half of the above rates. After conducting an overall review on the Scheme, the HA endorsed the immediate termination of the HALS on 14 July 2004.           Relief Measures on Loan Repayment The HA endorsed on 19 February 2004 the grant of relief measures on the part of the HA loan to further assist eligible loan recipients under Home Purchase Loan Scheme (HPLS) and HALS to tide over short-term financial difficulties. Those loan recipients who wish to apply for the relief measures should fulfill specific eligibility criteria. They should first approach the participating bank for possible restructuring of the loan repayment arrangement. Upon arriving at an initial arrangement, the bank would recommend the application for the HA's approval.    1. Restructuring of the Bank Loan a. Freeze the repayment of the principal of the bank loan for a period of 12 months, while the mortgage interest is continued to be paid; and/or   b. Extend the repayment period of the bank loan to 25 years.   2. Restructuring of the HA Loan To reduce the monthly repayment of the HA loans by 50% for a maximum period of 12 months with provision for the deferred repayment to be repaid evenly over the residual loan repayment term. The eligibility criteria are as follows - a. the relief measures on HA loans should run in parallel with a 100% reduced repayment of the principal of bank loans;   b. the monthly household income of the applicant has dropped by 15% or more compared with the income level at the time of loan application;   c. the monthly aggregate of the applicant's current bank loan repayment and HA loan repayment exceeds 50% of his/her monthly household income;   d. the net assets (excluding the mortgaged property) of singleton and family applicant do not exceed $80,000 and $120,000 respectively, and there is no other means with which the applicant can continue with the loan repayment; and   e. the availability of a recommendation from the bank having regard to the repayment capability of the applicant.

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