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Up to 30 September 2007, out of the 80 key activities covered in the Corporate Plan for 2007/08, 77 (96%) activities were either completed or on schedule/on-going/partially completed, and three (4%) activities were behind schedule. The progress is highlighted below.
Provision of Public Housing The PRH construction works were in progress. All target production of 16 400 PRH flats has been scheduled for completion in the latter part of 2007/08. During the year up to 30 September 2007, 5 919 PRH flats were allocated to waiting list applicants. As of end September 2007, the AWT was 1.8 years for general family applicants and 1.3 year for elderly one-person applicants.
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Building for Sustainability and Quality Efforts have been made on various fronts to improve the planning, design and construction of PRH flats. We have engaged stakeholders of local community, such as District Council, non-government organisations and interest groups, on the development of new PRH estates during the planning and design stage. We have also planned and developed all new PRH estates with site-specific domestic flats and modular flats to maximise site potential. To enhance the environmental sustainability of our projects, we have run pilot tests on the use of grid connection of renewable energy for power supply, environmental responsive facades,"green" materials such as softwood doorsets and fiberglass shower curtain rails, vertical green panels and green roofs in selected projects. Micro-climate studies have also been conducted for all new PRH developments.
Measures have been put in place to lift the standard of our workmanship. 100% trade-tested workers have been required in 32 trades in New Works contracts. The requirement of having at least 85% skilled trade-tested workers has also been imposed in 28 out of 32 trades in New Works contracts. Accident rate for New Works contracts dropped from 11.5 cases per thousand workers in 2006 to 11.2 cases in the first half of 2007. No fatal accident occurred during the period.
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A New Rent Adjustment Mechanism The Housing (Amendment) Ordinance 2007, which aimed to replace the statutory 10% median rent-to-income ratio in the Housing Ordinance (Cap. 283) with a new income-based rent adjustment framework for PRH flats, was passed by the Legislative Council on 13 June 2007. The new rent adjustment mechanism came into operation on 1 January 2008.
To provide a new starting point for the income-based rent adjustment mechanism to operate effectively, the HA reduced the PRH rent by 11.6% starting from August 2007.
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Intensified Action against Abuses of Public Housing Resources We have strived to ensure rational allocation of public housing resources. During the first half of 2007/08, the Public Housing Resources Management Sub-section has investigated some 4 000 occupancy-related tenancy abuse cases and conducted intensive checkings into some 3 500 doubtful or randomly selected income/asset cases. Publicity through various means, including bus-side panel advertising, posters, leaflets, videos and the HA's website, has also been launched to arouse public awareness on reporting suspected tenancy abuse cases.
Up to end September 2007, excluding those recovered from transfers of sitting tenants, some 6 000 PRH flats were recovered for re-allocation.
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Tackling Domestic Rent Arrears A number of measures have been taken to tackle domestic rent arrears. These included the provision of Alternative Counter Collection Channels at designated convenience stores and Mass Transit Railway stations starting respectively from March and May 2007, the launch of the Auto-dialing Rent Reminder Service in March 2007, and the commencement of Direct Rent Payment arrangement for tenants receiving Comprehensive Social Security Assistance in June 2007. As a result, the domestic rent arrears rate dropped from 5.00% as in April 2007 to 3.67% as in September 2007.
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Promoting Mutual Family Support and Care for the Elderly through Enhanced Public Housing Arrangements To encourage young families to live with their elderly parents, enhancement has been made to a number of public housing arrangements. The enhanced "Families with Elderly Persons Priority Scheme" (FEP) and the "Special Scheme for Families with Elderly Persons" (NFEP) were effective from October 2007. All FEP and NFEP applicants registered on the Waiting List for 18 months or more have been arranged for vetting interviews since October 2007.
Moreover, the policy on addition was modified to allow addition of one adult offspring into an elderly household starting from August 2007. The policy on amalgamation of tenancies has also been improved to allow young PRH households to move across districts to amalgamate into their elderly parents or dependent relatives' PRH tenancies. Starting from October 2007, a transfer scheme was implemented to allow younger families or elderly households who have been residing in PRH estates in Extended Urban/the New Territories for ten years or above to move nearer respectively to their elderly parents or younger offsprings living in urban PRH estates.
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Disposal of Surplus Home Ownership Scheme Flats A total of 3 255 surplus HOS flats were offered for sale under Phase 2 of Sale of Surplus HOS Flats in August 2007. We had received 14 383 application forms comprising 4 870 greens forms and 9 513 white forms. Flat selection was completed in December 2007.
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We have kept a close watch on the operational efficiency of the HA's commercial properties. To reduce vacancy rate, new trades have been introduced to tie in with market trend. Site-specific measures have also been launched, such as promotional campaigns. We were also exploring the conversion of several of our less popular premises for welfare and community use. These included the possible conversion of a portion of Nam Shan Carpark into an arts-related educational institution, and a portion of Choi Hung and Tin Heng Carparks respectively into a tertiary education centre and a creative media workshop. In parallel, we were stepping up our actions against rent arrears. Apart from the increase in interest rate on late rent payment which took effect from June 2006, we were also considering other possible measures such as increasing the rent deposit from two months to three months' rent.
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We completed the manpower plan and forecast in September 2007. A modest staffing increase of 0.7% (i.e. 57 posts) over the establishment ending 2006/07 would be needed to meet operational requirements arising from the implementation of new initiatives and increase in service needs.
A staff opinion survey on human resource management issues was conducted, and the results had been presented to the Finance Committee and staff in December 2007. We would also commission a consultant to review the HA's contract staff remuneration package, and to develop a performance-related pay mechanism.
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