Hong Kong set to open first ‘community living room’ for residents of subdivided flats before year’s end
- Space on Fuk Wah Street in Sham Shui Po will provide residents with 8,000 sq ft of additional room to do homework, shower, cook and eat
- Authorities also preparing to launch second round of mentorship programme for underprivileged junior secondary school students
Hong Kong’s will launch its first “community living room” for residents of subdivided flats before the end of the year, authorities have vowed, reporting faster-than-expected progress on opening the space as the sponsor is covering renovation costs.
The venue on Fuk Wah Street in Sham Shui Po will provide residents with 8,000 sq ft of additional room to do homework, shower, cook and eat, as part of the government’s wider efforts to ease the plight of the city’s poorest.
“The progress was faster than expected because the venue sponsor offered to cover the renovation costs … it should be ready very soon,” said a member of the Commission on Poverty on Thursday, requesting anonymity.
The group is a poverty alleviation advisory body under the Labour and Welfare Bureau.
Under a “targeted poverty alleviation” approach, the government has identified households in subdivided flats, single-parent families and the elderly as major groups deserving priority assistance.
