Steel comfort set at container homes
Local | Carine Chow 20 Aug 2020
At long last 89 families will be able to move into flats made from cargo containers on Monday as part of the SAR's first modular social housing project in Sham Shui Po that come with low rents.
Under the Hong Kong Council of Social Service, the Nam Cheong Street Modular Social Housing Project, "Nam Cheong 220," will provide 89 flats, comprising 35 one-person units, 29 two-person homes, 23 three-person household units, and two accessible units, with areas ranging between 130 and 293 square feet. Each unit will include a separate toilet and bathroom with an electric water heater, and an open kitchen with an electric cooker.
The construction of the four-story building began in December and was completed last month.
Low-income families and those living in subdivided units or other inadequate housing while queuing for public rental housing for a minimum of three years are the target groups, with a tenancy period of two years.
Tenants will either be charged their rental allowance under the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance scheme or no more than 25 percent of their household's income, whichever is lower.
The project is part of the Jockey Club's Incubating Community Participation through the Modular Social Housing Pilot Program.
Initiated by the council, sponsored by HKJC Charities Trust and operated by Tung Wah Group of Hospitals, the project hopes to create a sharing economy by allowing the households to establish a strong neighborhood network by sharing their daily necessities, skills and time.
The council has introduced a saving matching scheme, which is based on a one-on-one matching principle, with a maximum of HK$200 per household per month. If the household saves HK$4,800 for two years, the household will receive a matching grant of HK$4,800, as a contingency fund for completing the scheme, such as home moving and purchase of new home furniture.
"We hoped that the Nam Cheong Street project can be the beginning of more social housing projects with the collaboration of the government, the business sector and the community, offering a pathway for low-income families with urgent housing needs," council chairman Bernard Charnwut Chan said.
Apart from the Nam Cheong Street project, the council currently has two modular social housing projects on Yen Chow Street in Sham Shui Po and on Yip Shing Street in Kwai Ching, with the expected date for moves into the Yen Chow Street project being some time in the second half of 2021. The three projects will provide 400 flats in total.
The Nam Cheong Street project was initiated by the council in June 2018, after the Community Care Fund injected HK$35.7 million for it.
The modular social housing project aims to create transitional housing for grassroots families by utilizing short-term-use lands, such as idle land from the government and private companies.
The homes are built using a modular integrated construction method, which can shorten the construction time to around one year. The modular housing units can also be dismantled and moved to other sites to be reassembled in another location.
