Hong Kong company seeks to inject fun into social housing by creating themed homes based on personal talent
- Retro flat in Hung Hom centres on painting, and is one of 100 planned homes that social enterprise Light Be intends to set up
- Units will be shared by more than one family at below market rental rates
With classic pieces such as a Beatles vinyl record, a 1960s wooden radio and colourful decor inspired by pop art, one could easily mistake a flat in Hung Hom as a vintage collector’s home.
But this revitalised unit – about 800 sq ft in size – along Gillies Avenue South is the latest “light home” operated by social enterprise Light Be.
A light home is affordable social housing rented out to two or three families below market rates.
But unlike most of Light Be’s previous projects, which focused mainly on affordability, this flat and its theme of painting is one of 100 planned advanced homes that promote the spirit of personal talent development.
Company chief executive Ricky Yu Wai-yip said those applying for the flat had to have a family member passionate about painting and be open to their home being used by other light home tenants for related activities, such as painting classes.
“There is no conflict between personal development and making money. You can do so even while waiting for public rental flats,” he said.
“This development comes in many forms, and for the case of advanced light homes, we would like to promote the development of talent.”
‘New social housing will be modern, airy and rainbow-coloured’
Yu said a mother and her children, who were forced to leave their public rental flat due to family problems, had moved into the new unit, and would share it with two other single-parent families joining in a few weeks’ time.
Landlord Cindy Wong Hok-sen said the flat became empty after her parents died and her son moved out.
My father put in a lot of effort to design the house, so I did not want to turn it into subdivided units to rent out
“I stayed here while I was in kindergarten in the 1960s,” she recalled. “My father put in a lot of effort to design the house, so I did not want to turn it into subdivided units to rent out.”
Moreover, she believed it was a way for her to give back to society after her parents benefited from a lot of help in their last days.
Wong receives rent at about 30 to 40 per cent of the market value.
After she offered her flat to Light Be, Yu immediately fell in love with its retro style, which reminded him of the heyday of Hong Kong’s design and film industries, as well as society’s need for diverse talent.
To preserve the style while giving the flat new life, he enlisted local artist Eric Ng Wan-chung, who led a team to revitalise the unit in two months for tens of thousands of dollars.
Ng was drawn to the yellow and green-checkered Cantonese floor tiles, which he noted were of high quality. As children, Wong and her sister would skip on the coloured floor.
Ng painted over the tiles, which had faded from years of exposure to the sun. He then carefully fixed cracked tiles for safety while minimising further changes to preserve the memories of the Wong family.
‘Prefabricated social housing may be completed by next September’
The artist also kept most of the furniture but gave them an update such as a blue coat of paint for the hanging fan. He contributed some personal items, such as paintings of old Hong Kong, a Beatles record, a vintage telephone and the functioning wooden radio.
Ng also gives free painting classes in the flat weekly to light home tenants.
Coincidentally, Wong and her late mother were passionate about watercolour painting. Some of the older woman’s artwork found during the revitalisation process were incorporated into the flat.
“Painting gives you strength when you are unhappy or not feeling well,” Wong said, recalling the comfort it gave her sister and mother.
Other than this home, Light Be launched their first themed unit based on the love of reading last year. The social enterprise intends to set up 98 more of such flats over the next three years.
