The People Protest Lam's Housing Solution

Over 5,000 people came out to protest Lam's idea to build an artificial island

Days after Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor announced the government's plan to reclaim 1,700 hectares to be made into an artificial island by Lantau, thousands of people came out to protest this afternoon.

She dubbed it "Lantau Tomorrow Vision", a multi billion-dollar project to make an area east of Lantau Island a third central business district after Central and Kowloon East that could house 1.1 million people.

A government source estimated it would cost HK$500 billion (US$63.8 million) to develop, taking up half of the city's financial reserves. Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po admitted the development would be costly, but part of it could be offset by selling some of the land to developers, and constructing a railway network would yield some returns.

Protestors feel the government is colluding with developers

This afternoon the police estimated 5,800 people took part in the protest march today, while organizers didn't give a figure, so it could have been much higher. People of all ages came out, many wearing blue T-shirts. Some of the banners they held read "white elephant" or described the scheme as "outright robbery"; others asked for Lam to step down.

Critics of Lam's plan have other suggestions on how to boost land supply, such as developing 1,000 hectares of farmland, or 1,300 hectares of brownfield sites -- degraded agricultural land occupied by businesses like car parks or recycling yards -- mostly in the New Territories.

But Lam was undeterred saying addressing the land supply issue was urgent and that the government was also looking at developing brownfield sites too.

"The suggestions that [my] land supply and reclamation plans are 'burning up the city's fiscal reserve', 'pouring money into the sea' and 'benefiting developers'... are not true," she said, adding it should not be "shocking" the government wanted to reclaim 1,700 hectares of land in the next 20 to 30 years.

There are also environmental concerns in creating an island

Twenty years ago people weren't as concerned about the environment before as they are now, and they are tired of seeing what they believe is the government colluding with property developers.

If we so precious about land, let's be prudent about it and develop these brownfield sites first. The government needs to be more creative in how land is used -- what about allowing people to legally live in warehouse spaces? What about forcing landlords of empty flats to either rent them out or sell them?

The public have come out to say they don't want to destroy the environment to create more land. So Lam and her administration need to think of more creative ideas to help people have a roof over their heads.

Can Lam Tackle HK's Land Shortage?

David Akers-Jones says Carrie Lam must tackle land shortages firmly

Former chief secretary David Akers-Jones has some advice for incoming chief executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor -- get tough on tackling Hong Kong's problems, in particular land shortages, describing it as a "shame and disgrace".

Now 90, Akers-Jones was a supporter of Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee during the CE race, but says Lam is "a determined person who has a gentle side to her nature".

While he would not comment on if the civil service produced better leaders than businessmen turned politicians, like Leung Chun-ying who (who he supported), Akers-Jones admits Hong Kong's colonial past was partly to blame for a lack of "clear assumption of responsibility".

He said the colonial civil service took a "positive non-intervention" approach, and left the task of finding solutions to social problems with the private sector.

There are a number of brownfield sites in the New Territories

No wonder the government today has such a laissez-faire approach to what are now very serious social issues, particularly low-income housing, education, and skyrocketing rents.

However, he noted Leung had a more interventionist approach when it came to increased welfare spending.

"I feel Carrie Lam would have to deal with... social problems with a strong hand," he suggested.

Akers-Jones said land supply needed urgent solutions, as it was a "shame" that much of Hong Kong's 1,192 hectares of brownfield sites are now owned by major developers.

"Management of land is a disgrace of the government. When I went to Yuen Long in 1962, it was surrounded by paddy fields... now look at it," he said, referring to where there are a lot of brownfield sites.

"We must reach an amicable agreement between ourselves and the owners of the brownfields, [as] we reached an amicable agreement in the 1960s in the building of new town."

Is Lam CY 2.0 or not? We shall find out in the coming months

That was then, this is now. The issues are more complex, and also residents are more outspoken and concerned about their living environment and of course property values. The stakes are much higher, but the housing problem definitely needs to be tackled.

Other issues Akers-Jones is concerned about including poverty and the ageing population, which he describes as "extremely difficult problems" to be solved.

But he is optimistic Lam will find creative solutions if she and her administration look at problems honestly and listen to the people.

However, from seeing how she performed as chief secretary under Leung, Lam will have to radically change the way she does things to convince us she is really honest about wanting to make Hong Kong better.

Many of us have yet to be convinced she won't be another CY 2.0...

Number of the Day: US$3 Billion

The Murray Road car park (right) sold today for US$3 billion

Land is getting even more expensive in Hong Kong, with today's sale of the Murray Road car park for a staggering US$3 billion (HK$23.28 billion). That works out to HK$50,064 per square foot.

Whoa.

The government building was sold to Henderson Land

The record up to now was a grade-A office space at 9 Queens Road Central sold in April for HK$145.82 million, or HK$39,800 per square foot.

The buyer of Murray Road, Henderson Land Development, run by Lee Shau-kee and his family, beat out eight rival bids, in particular mainland developers who are now strangled from getting money out of China these days.

Henderson Land plans to develop the multi-storey car park into -- what else -- a commercial building the company describes as "a landmark building" that will be completed in 2022.

Analysts are already speculating multinational and mainland firms will occupy that office space.

There's a convenient walkway from Central to Admiralty

So while car owners already have one less place to park their cars in Central (it closed a few weeks ago), pedestrians will lose a convenient thoroughfare, as it provided an easy short cut to Admiralty and the edge of Central.

By the way -- now that the government will have another US$3 billion in its coffers, how about using those proceeds towards building social housing? Seems like the most decent thing the authorities could do...

A Migrant Worker's Story

Migrant worker Fan Yusu chronicled her life in a 7,000 character essay

Fan Yusu has had a hard life as a migrant worker and single mother in Beijing.

She left her village in Hubei province and did odd jobs in the Chinese capital as a domestic helper, and went home in a rented 80 square foot flat without running water and raising two daughters.

The 44-year-old penned her experiences in an autobiographical essay entitled, I am Fan Yusu and posted it on a social media literary site on Monday last week.

Within 24 hours, the essay was shared more than 100,000 times and had more than 20,000 comments.

The 7,000 character essay chronicles her experiences over the last 30 years, detailing how a rural woman's life was shaped by massive social and economic change. Her story also raises the issues of the widening gap between the rich and the poor, the urban-rural divide, and the violent seizure of farmland to make way for development.

Fan is originally from Xiangyang, a village in Hubei, and began working as a teacher in the village school when she was 12.

When she grew older, she tired of village life and decided to move to Beijing. There she married and had two daughters, but her husband was often drunk and beat her. She couldn't take it anymore and went back to her village, but her brothers would not accept her, because "a married daughter is no longer a member of her parents' family".

So she returned to Beijing, and leaving her daughters in the care of a nursery, she worked as a nanny in a wealthy home.

The tycoon owner had bought the property for his mistress and had borne him two illegitimate children, and Fan looked after a three-month-old girl.

"The mistress lived like a concubine in an imperial court," Fan wrote. "She must please her master without dignity; and lower herself to beg for food."

Fan also wrote about her pain of leaving her own children: "I often had to wake up at midnight to look after the baby girl... and at those moments I couldn't help but miss my own daughters. I often cried. Luckily it was usually midnight and nobody noticed."

She also wrote of her 81-year-old mother, who went to the local government to protest against the seizure of land without sufficient compensation. Her arm was dislocated in the scuffle with officials, but she felt fortunate because younger protesters suffered worse injuries.

In an interview with Beijing Youth Daily, Fan said she was not a writer, and made a living by "working as a coolie". But she said she had a story to tell.

"If by living one means eating, simple people like me can survive by eating sweet potatoes," she wrote. "But what is the meaning of living without thinking of one's soul? You've got to have a dream. Like the traveller who sees light far ahead, you feel happy."

Fan was brave to even upload her story online and now everyone has a good idea of what she has gone through in her first-person account. We need to hear about more of these stories to have a better understanding of not only what migrant workers are going through, but every other person in China -- to have a more comprehensive picture of the people who live in the country, and learn about their struggles and dreams.

Two Throw their Hats into Chief Executive Race

Woo Kwok-hing talked to the media today about running for chief executive

The process of running for chief executive of Hong Kong is typically a tightly scripted affairs -- particularly if you have the blessing of Beijing.

But in the case of retired judge Woo Kwok-hing, he doesn't seem to care and believes his professional track record makes him a good candidate, as he had no political baggage and no scandals to be exposed.

He made the announcement yesterday which was a surprise to many, and then he held a 90-minute press conference today.

Unlike other previous candidates who make these formal announcements in five-star hotels or the Convention and Exhibition Centre, Woo instead chose a meeting room in the modest Duke of Windsor Social Service Building in Wan Chai.

And he didn't have an entourage of public relations staff, but two women from a PR firm, and his son and daughter-in-law who came to support him.

Woo criticized CY Leung for dividing Hong Kong society

During the press conference he answered wide-ranging questions from incumbent Leung Chun-ying's problems national security issues.

Woo's first target? Leung. "I don't think Mr CY Leung has been able to address public grievances and halt the division of our society to ensure that Hong Kong's best overall interests are served."

He also said it "really doesn't look good" that Leung put his own name as a plaintiff in the recent legal bid to disqualify two localists, Sixtus Baggio Leung Chung-hang and Yau Wai-ching, who insulted China, when the justice secretary alone should be in charge.

When asked about what Beijing thought of him running, Woo admitted that he had disclosed his plans to someone in the liaison office -- though not chief Zhang Xiaoming -- and had yet to hear back.

"The message I got from people who had contacts on the mainland told me that the central government had 'no response'," he said. "But this doesn't mean they had 'no comment'."

While he didn't disclose his platform, Woo said political reform was his top and only priority because failure to make progress in the past 19 years had plunged Hong Kong into division and conflict.

Regina Ip confirmed she would run for CE too

"When political reform is resolved, everything else will become easy," he said. Housing, a major issue taken up seriously by the chief executive, was "less important", Woo said.

Probably triggered by Woo's shock announcement, New People's Party leader Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee confirmed today on Commercial Radio that she is interested in the top job too, though she won't formalize her candidacy until after the 1,200 election committee assembles in December.

She said while Woo may be strongly experienced in law, he may not know much about the economy, livelihood issues and housing.

As a result, she plans to make housing and land the top issues in her campaign.

Ip also made a dig at supposed front runner, Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah, saying he hadn't accomplished much in the past decade.

The claws are out!

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?

The Odd Man Out

Does Paul Chan Mo-po know country parks are off limits for development?

We wonder if Secretary for Development Paul Chan Mo-po got the memo that as a senior member of the Leung Chun-ying government, he should be a team player and issue the same messages as everyone else?

Yesterday on his blog, Chan floated the idea of developing land on country parks to solve the housing crisis.

He wrote that during the various seminars he attended on this issue, "someone mentioned that 70 percent of Hong Kong's land is country parks, [and] in face of a shortage of land supply and a big housing demand... can they not be developed at all?"

Today his colleague Environment Secretary Wong Kam-sing stated the city had no plans to do this.

Wong is reiterating a pledge his boss Leung made almost two years ago when he was running for chief executive, saying, "I attach great importance to green belt zones. They should be protected from development as far as possible".

When asked to comment about Chan's suggestion, Wong replied that Chan was only putting forward ideas from the community and that the government was open to new ideas.

We really have to wonder what planet Chan is from.

Environment Secretary Wong Kam-sing sets the record straight

He doesn't seem to have done his homework on looking into how many disused government sites there are, including abandoned schools and hospitals. What about confiscating empty plots of purchased land that have not been developed after a certain period of time? Can he not do an extensive survey of these places around the city and figure out how they can be developed properly and in a cost-effective way?

Why does development have to equal disturbing the existing eco-system?

Chan seems to be the odd man out on this one -- but the real question is -- has his boss noticed?