Third sector housing in 21st-century Hong Kong: opportunities and challenges

Abstract

Hong Kong has a large public housing sector that shows strong resilience. Given the approximate half–half public–private housing divide in Hong Kong, officials, housing advocates and the general public envisage housing provision, problems and remedies within the ‘rigid’ framework of private and public housing. Social innovation examples of third sector housing as start-ups in ‘social housing’ have emerged in the early 21st century in Hong Kong, thereby forming a ‘new’ model in housing delivery amidst the public–private binary housing market. This study focuses on the gap filled by third sector housing in Hong Kong through serving as a complement to the private and public housing sectors in meeting unsatisfied general housing needs and as a supplement to both sectors in catering for neglected specialist housing needs. The exact future trajectory of third sector housing development will highly depend on the synergy of different stakeholders in public, private and third sectors as well as the common citizens in its nurturance.