Letters | Improve housing as a first step towards better health in Hong Kong

Readers discuss the association between crowded housing and health, and how much further home prices are expected to fall

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A woman in the 150 sq ft flat in Sham Shui Po she lives in with her husband and daughter. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Published: 11:30am, 12 Dec 2022

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Poor housing worsens both physical and mental health, especially in the case of socially disadvantaged households living in tiny and crowded spaces or subdivided flats. Internationally, studies have shown an association between living in a crowded household and higher risk of infectious diseases and mental health problems, while local studies have shown that household crowding is associated with adverse health outcomes such as hypertension, anxiety and stress.

Our recent commentary published in The Lancet Regional Health – Western Pacific also emphasises that household crowding, broadly defined as the number of occupants exceeding the capacity of the available dwelling space in terms of rooms or floor area, is linked to health inequality in Hong Kong. Household crowding is highly sensitive to one’s socioeconomic position, living conditions and the neighbourhood environment, and could be an indicator used to monitor health inequality in Hong Kong.

It is commendable that Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu in his first policy address announced that the minimum size of subsidised sale flats (except for single-person and two-person units) completed from 2026-27 onwards will be 280 sq ft. He also introduced a “light public housing” scheme which will offer larger temporary flats built on short-term sites, to shorten the waiting time for public housing.

This is anticipated to have a substantial impact as close to 50 per cent of the Hong Kong population live in public rental or subsidised housing. If designed and implemented properly, these initiatives could alleviate household crowding by offering relatively larger flats or rehousing residents from subdivided flats into light public housing, thereby partially mitigating the existing health inequalities.

For these measures to achieve the maximum impact, the government should conduct a health impact assessment, similar to environmental impact assessments, at the stage of design and implementation to investigate how the health of residents, especially the disadvantaged, would be affected, and how their needs could be better addressed.