Kong's Housing Research Articles

Sharp edges, fuzzy categories and transborder networks: managing and housing new arrivals in Hong Kong

The sharp edges of inclusion or exclusion from citizenship are in contrast with the complex webs of transnational networks and interactions. The return of colonial Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty posed great challenges for citizenship categories. The definition of the right of abode in the Basic Law, Hong Kong's constitution, resulted in very large numbers of people who could claim this right, as many as 1.67 million. These numbers reflect the complex history of social relationships across the Hong Kong/China border. Despite high levels of socio-economic integration, the border still sharply restricts movement from China to Hong Kong, and this combination of integration and separation generates a complex dynamic, reflected in part in the right of abode controversy. The Hong Kong administration has overturned a court ruling in order to preserve restrictions on migration into Hong Kong by those accorded the right of abode, setting off intense public debate. Those mainlanders who do manage to enter Hong Kong face a variety of challenges, the most crucial of which is obtaining affordable accommodation in a city with among the highest housing costs in the world. New arrivals are excluded from eligibility for public housing, which accounts for over half of Hong Kong's housing stock, while private housing is among the world's most expensive.

Agents of Eviction: The Squatter Control and Clearance Division of Hong Kong’s Housing Department

More is known about the policies that produce forced evictions and their consequences than about the agencies whose responsibility it is to conduct them. Understanding the nature of forced evictions requires greater comprehension of responsible agencies since the ways in which they implement policies may be a crucial intervening variable influencing the outcomes. In this paper, I use documentary and ethnographic research to describe the Squatter Control and Clearance Division of the Hong Kong Housing Department. Responsible both for evicting squatters and for controlling squatter areas that are permitted to remain for the time being, officers must respond to the conflicts and challenges of their twin, partially conflicting, mandates. Examination of changes in squatter control and clearance practices since 1954 is followed by a brief case study of the most recent squatter clearance that occurred in July 2001.

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Environmental Sustainability of Hong Kong's Housing System and the Housing Process Model

A preliminary assessment of the overall environmental sustainability of the existing housing system of Hong Kong is given, and the usefulness of M. Bhatti's building life-cycle model in developing a policy for sustainable housing development is assessed. While it is found that housing development in this highly compact city may not be ecologically sustainable, high-density living does enable some environment-friendly practices. The life-cycle model is instrumental in estimating the overall greenness of the housing processes, and prompts the need for formulating a sustainable housing policy. However, the model itself does not provide a framework for developing such a policy.