Carrie Lam's Policy Address Fails the Grade

Carrie Lam is being escorted into the Legislative Council

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor continues to be completely out of touch with what people in Hong Kong want. It was the first time ever in the 71 years since policy speeches were made, she had to give it via a video recording.

Originally she was terrified of encountering the protesters at the Legislative Council building, but they were not there at all. Instead it was the pan-democrats inside the chambers dressed in black who kicked up a ruckus.

They shouted and waved placards of her with bloody hands at her, and played a recording of gunshots and screaming protesters, while using a handheld projector that showed one of the slogans in Chinese characters, "Five demands, not one less!" on the wall behind Lam. Some even put on face masks with President Xi Jinping's face on them.

"Five demands, not one less!" is projected behind Lam

It was all amusing, but Lam couldn't wait for the ridicule to end and walked out of the chambers, not without continued shouts at her and throwing placards near her.

But back to Lam's policy speech, which she made between two red flags, one Hong Kong the other China. Some comments on Twitter couldn't help but notice her standing between two red flags meaning double danger...

So Lam did not offer any political solution to the four months' long anti-government protests. Instead she offered opportunities for people to buy flats.

Are any of the five demands the protesters have been shouting about are of wanting to buy flats?

She seems to have gotten the idea from Beijing, who recently suggested that perhaps protesters were angry because they couldn't afford housing.

And so Lam has gone about and offered easier ways for people to get mortgages, not trying to find a way to make them more affordable. For those who are allowed to borrow up to 90 percent of the value of the flat, the lending cap will be raised to HK$8 million instead of HK$4 million.

And those who can take on mortgages worth up to 80 percent of the property value, the cap was raised to HK$10 million from HK$6 million.

Seems like she is targeting the middle class, in the hopes they will stop protesting and start buying.

But why would they, with the political and economic climate so uncertain? They would really rather buy elsewhere at the moment according to my blog post yesterday.

Lam also proposed building 10,000 "transitional" flats in three years for those waiting for public housing, but is that even enough?

The newly-renovated chamber following the July 1 vandalism

Another good initiative was saying the government will begin aggressively taking back empty private land that developers have been sitting on, as well as take over brownfield sites. Is this where Lam intends to build these 10,000 flats? Not sure.

Then, as many of the protesters are students, Lam decided to give everyone a transportation subsidies, tunnel tolls won't be raised, and there will be more ferries to outlying islands in service.

All these are piecemeal and hardly bold and visionary.

Some critics had suggested ahead of time she could have given more votes to the people by turning votes for companies or industries into votes for people, thus making the Legislative Council "more democratic". And making that change would not need Beijing's approval, but within Legco.

But no, she was not politically savvy enough to think about doing that.

So in the end nothing has really changed, not that the protesters expected much from Lam in the first place. They didn't even bother wasting their energy on her and rightly so.

But surely Lam realizes that she is not a suitable leader to guide Hong Kong out of the terrible mess she herself created?

And her problems are now compounded by the fact that the pro-Beijing camp, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong aren't happy with her police address either.

It's going to be very hard for Lam to pass this policy address in Legco...

Jimmy Sham was in injured tonight in an attack in Kowloon

In the meantime in the last few hours, Jimmy Sham Tsz-kit, the convenor of the Civil Human Rights Front that organizes all the big peaceful rallies, was violently attacked by non-Chinese assailants with hammers tonight in Tai Kok Tsui. Others tried to stop them, but one of the attackers threatened them with a knife. Sham was left on the ground bleeding profusely.

He is now in Kwong Wah Hospital and conscious but this is a damning attack on those who want to protest peacefully. Sham and his group were supposed to meet tonight about organizing another march on Sunday from Tsim Sha Tsui to Kowloon Station.

There was an attempt to attack Sham back in August, and he is not the only one who has been the focus of attacks: There is also Max Chung, the Yuen Long march organizer, Davin Wong, former University of Hong Kong student leader, Isaac Cheng, Demosisto vice chair, Roy Kwong, a Democrat lawmaker, Stanley Ho, Labour Party member, and Janelle Leung and Joycelyn Chau, both district council candidates.

These attacks are cowardly and deplorable -- they must stop now.

Invest in Car Park Spaces

The uber wealthy can afford outrageously expensive prices for real estate

It was just reported today that someone bought two flats on The Peak for HK$1.16 billion (US$149 million). That calculates to HK$131,000 per square foot for Mount Nicholson, a luxury development project.

Prices for private housing rose again in September for the 18th consecutive month, making home ownership even further away for home buyers looking to get into the market.

Which is why some people maybe turning to buying up car park spaces in order to get into the real estate market. The value of these rectangular spaces in the garage are rising faster in value than flats in Hong Kong.

The rest of us might be speculating on car park spaces

A study conducted by brokerage houses in three private housing estates -- Provident Garden in North Point, Mei Foo Sun Chuen in Lai Chi Kok and Island Harbourview in Tak Kok Tsui -- found the parking spots in these places jumped on average of a whopping 167 percent compared to 52 percent for residential units in the last six years.

In the same period, second-hand homes rose an average 84 percent across the city, according to data from the Rating and Valuation Department.

"It is even normal to find parking spaces transacted at above HK$2 million, and HK$1 million is becoming the entry point for parking spaces in Hong Kong," said Alun Jin, a property analyst at Mizuho Securities.

Even Sha Tin parking spots are sizzling hot -- one was sold last week at HK$2.5 million, and another at Tseung Kwan O Plaza for HK$2.08 million.

Jin attributes the high prices to real estate developments constructing fewer parking spaces. Between 2006 to 2016, the number of registered private cars rose 48 percent to 189,281. But the number of car park spaces only increased by 9 percent or 54,520 units according to Mizuho Securities.

But is it worth plonking down HK$2 million for a car park space -- up to HK$4 million in Kennedy Town -- and then renting it out only for a few thousand a month? How long would it take to finally make your money back?

However, hold onto it long enough and you could possible double or triple your money back in a shorter time span than if you bought a flat in the same period....

Sounds like another real estate bubble forming already...

Hong Kong's "McSleepers"

An elderly woman sleeps at a branch of McDonald's

Last month, a woman in her 50s or 60s was found dead in a McDonald's in Ping Shek Estate, in Kowloon Bay, 24 hours after she entered the fast-food restaurant.

The shock of the discovery has sparked renewed calls to help these so-called "McRefugees", or "McSleepers", because they have no place to go, and the 24-hours McDonald's restaurants are a good option because they are warm and clean.

Social workers have been trying to bring attention of these homeless people to the Hong Kong government, but it still refuses to acknowledge these people need help because they consider them to have roofs over their heads -- albeit temporary ones.

As a result the government says it only has some 800 homeless people in the city, whereas social workers believe it's at least double that.

A woman was found dead in a McDonald's in Kowloon Bay

These homeless people have little or no income, and are forced between choosing to pay for expensive rents but starve, or live on the streets and have some food, and many pick the latter option.

"A subdivided flat of just 30 sq ft in Sham Shui Po would cost you HK$2,000 ($258) a month to rent these days," says Lee Tai-shing, chief community organizer for the Concerning Comprehensive Social Security Assistance and Low Income Alliance.

The Social Welfare Department offers short-term hostel placement, employment guidance, and emergency funds to cover short-term rent payments and other living expenses.

While it's nice to know the department will help out financially in a pinch, temporary housing is not the answer for these homeless people.

And so social workers are calling on the government to impose rent controls so landlords cannot sharply raise the rent every year.

When interviewed, one "McSleeper" said he used to live in a sub-divided flat in Sham Shui Po for HK$1,000, but then it became too expensive and dirty, whereas coming to McDonald's was at least "clean and nice".

The 48-year-old is a cleaner who also gets partial Comprehensive Social Security Assistance for low-income adults, and so he can have a monthly income of HK$6,000 to HK$10,000 depending on how many hours of work he can get.

Subdivided flats are expensive and cramped, dirty too

He has slept in a Sham Shui Po McDonald's for four years now and finds the location convenient, as his job is unstable and where he gets assigned to work changes frequently.

Although he has been offered public rental housing three times, he has refused each time, as the location is in an inaccessible area that transportation costs would be high.

While Sham Shui Po and Tai Kok Tsui have been areas with cheap housing, the government has been gentrifying these areas, making housing more expensive for people who are scraping a living.

A bed space costs HK$1,800 to over HK$2,000, while a sub-divided room can cost HK$3,000.

Social workers have lobbied the government to set aside social housing and communal areas for these low-income people, but people have the "not in my backyard" mentality.

However, when people are given a place to sleep and keep their possessions, earn a living and be able to maintain a sense of dignity, it gives these people hope, and helps them not only to socialize with others, but also makes them feel a part of the community.

Isolation, says social workers, is the real root of the homelessness problem.

"It's okay in the first year or two of rough sleeping, but stepping into the fourth and fifth year, it's hard not to have some sort of mental issues as well as other illnesses," says Wong Hung, associate professor in social work at Chinese University.

We go back to what Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah said earlier, that HK12,000 was too much to pay for a dishwasher.

Has he and his colleagues visited these "McSleepers" and asked them how much they need to live a dignified life? The minimum would probably be HK$12,000 if not more.

And why is he sitting on trillions of dollars in reserves when we have at least 1,500 homeless people who need shelter, and over a million others who cannot afford to buy enough food to eat each day?

We pay taxes for a good reason -- to help those in need.

We are a rich city, and yet the buck stops with Tsang, for no good reason.

We ask again -- why is he our Financial Secretary?

Where's the Compassion?

It's not good to live in a subdivided flat, but for many it's the only option

We've all been taught to buy real estate when we have the resources, but these days it's getting harder and harder for young people in Hong Kong to buy with property prices still holding high, and wages hardly keeping up with inflation.

But once you have amassed property, you are king of the hill. That was possible a few decades ago, but not now. With the current restrictions, one can't even buy more than one flat without paying a large stamp duty on real estate acquisitions.

So landlords, with their "king of the hill" attitude these days, are gouging as much as they can from tenants. This makes it harder for restaurateurs to produce decent food at affordable prices  -- how many bowls of noodles or hamburgers do you have to sell to make HK$800,000 in rent per month?

Many independent restaurateurs don't want to win Michelin stars because they know that if they earn the coveted star or stars, landlords assume even more customers will come which means higher rents.

The same problem goes for those renting flats -- the amount of money one pays for space to live in is getting smaller and smaller. People are constantly having to downsize or look for places further away from public transportation to save.

Some families live in extremely cramped conditions

The vile greed of landlords is even worse when it comes to those eking out a living. Most of us have decent salaries, though not great, but we can still pinch a bit here and there.

However there are some families who are hovering around the poverty line and their landlords are still raising their rents.

A family of three living in a subdivided flat in Tai Kok Tsui live in a space under 100 square feet.

"The rent was HK$2,000 per month when we first moved here [in 2007], but it is now HK$3,000," says Peace Chu, who works part time as a housemaid when she can, while her husband takes up temporary contract jobs.

"Plus water and electricity, we now pay about HK$4,500 in rent and utilities, which is about half of our household income."

The other half of the money is needed for food and hopefully savings, but it sounds like there isn't much left over each month.

We already know that living in subdivided flats is not a healthy environment for a human to live in -- there is no fresh air, the potential for safety hazards is a constant concern, and it's noisy and unhygienic.

And yet the government has sort of turned a blind eye because it hasn't come up with any decent social housing solutions, and yet many have to live in these cramped conditions to the detriment of their health.

What is hard to understand is that these landlords are already raking in lots of money. Why this need to raise rents at the misery of others?

As my great aunt used to say, "You can't take money with you to the afterlife", so why this desire to squeeze out every cent from a tenant, especially ones that are just barely getting by?

Can we not have some compassion for these people?

Thankfully there is a housing project called Light Be that helps mostly single mothers share a flat and pay rent at a substantially lower cost. Not only does this give the families more space and a clean environment to live in, but more importantly builds their self esteem and hopes.

The flats are "donated" by landlords who have empty flats, or are interested in doing some charitable work. These flats are located all over the city, and it's wonderful to see these families get a leg up with a roof over their heads which they pay at the amount they can afford.

There are already a number of homeless people, mostly elderly, on the streets who cannot afford to rent a place -- even a subdivided flat. If there aren't more people willing to help give them roofs over their heads, we may see families out on the streets too.

Again -- can we not have some compassion for these people?