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Edith Lin

Some elderly residents in two Hong Kong public housing estates will have door sensors installed in their flats as part of a pilot scheme that aims to provide alerts to family members when their loved ones may be in distress.
Secretary for Housing Winnie Ho Wing-yin announced the initiative on Sunday after a 78-year-old man was found dead last week with his 44-year-old mentally disabled son unharmed next to him at their public rental flat in Tuen Mun.
Ho said the sensors would record the number of times tenants opened their doors. Family members would be alerted when no door movement was detected within a specific time frame, which could be set by users according to their needs.
The housing minister shrugged off privacy concerns.
“We cannot see anything or any movement inside the flat. It is not a camera. We are just recording the door contact,” she told a radio show.
Ho added that the alerts would be sent to family members, rather than estate management.
She said about 20 to 30 elderly households living at Wan Hon Estate in Kwun Tong and a similar number of families at Sheung Lok Estate in Kowloon City had voluntarily enrolled in the scheme.
Ho said authorities chose the two estates because they had relatively higher numbers of elderly households, compared with others in the city.
The system will complete its trial run in March or April.
The minister said the system did not involve installing cables and authorities would further explore other technology, such as motion sensors, to help elderly residents.
Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun Yuk-han said on Saturday that the administration would exchange data between departments to create a database for identifying hidden cases of at-risk carers.


He said the Social Welfare Department had data on subsidy recipients and service users, while the Hospital Authority and housing authorities also gathered information on their patients and tenants.
Sun said the data could not be easily shared between departments because of technical and privacy issues. But the privacy watchdog had found ways of sharing some information without breaching laws.
The exchange of data could allow authorities to detect at-risk cases through the use of criteria such as age and health, as well as whether elderly residents were living alone or being looked after by carers who were also elderly or had mental disabilities.
Sun said authorities could share such information with welfare groups to offer help to families to prevent tragedies.
The establishment of the database was one of the measures proposed in Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu’s policy address last year, with an aim to provide early intervention and support to carers looking after elderly residents or individuals with disabilities.
Sun said a 24-hour hotline for carer support, launched in September 2023, had received about 62,000 calls as of December last year.
Sze Lai-shan, the deputy director of the Society for Community Organisation, said authorities had good intentions in setting up the door sensors.
But she noted that some elderly residents did not want to bother others by having family or friends receive alerts. She suggested the government be notified instead for such tenants.
Sze also said the Housing Department could take note of at-risk cases when elderly residents moved into public housing estates, noting that security and staff could monitor their situations and offer help when needed.
Government departments could ask service users and tenants to sign consent forms to allow other designated bodies to follow up on their situation, which would accelerate the setting up of the city’s database, Sze said.
According to the 2021 census, Hong Kong has more than 188,000 people aged 65 and above who live alone. Almost 400,000 more live with only their spouse.
Residents living alone aged 65 and over account for 13 per cent of the total elderly population.


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Hong Kong to install door sensors for elderly in pilot scheme targeting safety

The housing minister has shrugged off privacy concerns over the pilot scheme. Photo: Sam Tsang

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Butterfly Estate in Tuen Mun. Photo: Fiona Sun

The 44-year-old son has been taken to Tuen Mun Hospital for further evaluation. Photo: Sam Tsang

Hong Kong to set up database of at-risk elderly to support isolated carers, minister says

The government hopes to create a database to ensure better oversight of at-risk elderly residents. Photo: Eugene Lee

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News

Hong Kong

Society

Housing minister announces initiative after elderly man found dead last week with his mentally disabled son unharmed next to him


Housing minister announces initiative after elderly man found dead last week with his mentally disabled son unharmed next to him.


Hong Kong housing

Accidents and personal safety in Hong Kong

Ageing society