rthk.hk - Express NewsToday, 11:52 AM
Ombudsman Connie Lau says the Housing Authority is unwilling to give out specific data. Photo: RTHK
The Housing Authority has come under fire for releasing only general figures of the average waiting time for public housing applicants.
Currently, applicants are separated into five different categories, four of which would get priority in housing allocation.
But it has been increasingly difficult for the authority to keep the average waiting time to three years, as the number of people queuing for a public flat has been growing. As of the end of September, there were over 280,000 applicants waiting to be allocated a flat.
But the Ombudsman, Connie Lau, said the authority is unwilling to disclose a breakdown of the average waiting time for each of these categories.
She said that would give general applicants, who have no priority in allocation, false hope that they would only have to wait for around three years before to be given a flat, which is often not the case.
Lau also criticised officials for refusing to reveal past data about such applications that would have “strong reference for those applicants”.
http://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1228833-20151210.htm
