Green Form Subsidised Home Ownership scheme to be regularised

The GSH pilot project in King Tai Court, San Po Kong proved the merits of the scheme.

The Housing Authority has announced that the Green Form Subsidised Home Ownership Scheme will become regular after the Subsidised Housing Committee endorsed the regularisation of the government’s Green Form Subsidised Home Ownership Scheme (GSH) following a review of the pilot project at King Tai Court, San Po Kong.

According to a press release, the results of the pilot project revealed that the scheme provides an alternative avenue for Green Form applicants to achieve home ownership and addresses the housing needs of public housing applicants. 

This entails more mobility in the housing ladder as public rental housing tenants are required to vacate their units for the more needy following the purchase of GSH flats. 

The committee also endorsed implementation details to the regularised scheme including the adoption of a simplified price setting mechanism and rationalising arrangements on recovering PRH units. 

In her maiden policy address, Chief Executive Carrie Lam expressed the need for the regularisation of the GSH scheme to aid Green Formers and PRH tenants move up the housing ladder. 

The HA stresses that this one-for-one arrangement will not slash the supply of PRH. This is because the home ownership aspirations of GF buyers - who are PRH applicants who passed vetting – will be addressed earlier which in turn opens up space for PRH resources to applicants with more pressing housing needs. 

Photo from Baycrest - Own work, CC BY-SA 2.5