AL Plenary | Permanent public housing application mechanism established

The amendment for the public housing regime was passed at the Legislative Assembly (AL) yesterday. It included age and income requirements of public housing applicants, as well as a permanent mechanism for residents to apply for a public house at any point in the year.

The amendment had firstly been brought to the AL for discussion on Monday. However, as Monday’s meeting did not finish within the AL’s legal hours, it was adjourned and resumed yesterday.

The Secretary for Transport and Public Works Raimundo do Rosário was present at the meetings to introduce the change. He mentioned that the key modifications included: increasing the eligible age of public house applicants to 23 years old; the requirement that the applicants’ spouse and family members must have not bought properties five years before the application (previously the limit was three years); and the following rule on income: when a social house contract ends, if the income of the residents is less than twice the social housing maximum income requirements, then the tenants should pay double the rent, or, if they exceed twice the maximum, then the residents are obliged to pay an amount three times the rent, while the government will simultaneously initiate actions to remove these residents from the public houses.

Ng Kuok Cheong questioned the Secretary regarding youth housing policies, wondering when the government will launch policies on the subject.

Ng also remarked that he deemed the amendments brought up by Rosário to offer both advantages and disadvantages.

Song Pek Kei pointed out that there is a group of people who are eligible for both public and affordable houses.

Yesterday, Rosário replied to the lawmakers saying that a more detailed discussion could be carried out during other meetings where the bill’s articles need to be voted one by one.

The amendment further suggests that, if the social residents live in the houses for less than four months, then their cases will be forwarded to the Housing Bureau.

During yesterday’s plenary meeting, lawmaker Agnes Lam argued that government representatives should explain the consequences associated with these amendments.

Several other lawmakers, including Wong Kit Cheng and Leong Sun Iok, also voiced their concerns towards the youth, as the amendment increased the minimum application age to 23 years old.

Lam Lon Wai asked how many cases there were of social housing applicants lying about their incomes in order to become eligible.

Angela Leong noted that, in many countries, private house developers, when building a new project, are obliged to set aside a percentage of the houses for social accommodation. Leong wondered whether this could become a reality in Macau.

She reaffirmed that through her proposal, she hopes the government will build youth apartments for young people to rent, in order to help those who are ineligible for social houses yet cannot afford a regular house.

The Secretary said that his department will try to make thousands of social houses available. He informed that currently there are hundreds of social houses available because the previous residents had moved out.

The Secretary noted that many of the lawmakers’ concerns could be discussed in later meetings.

When replying to Angela Leong, Rosário said that private developers could save a portion of their houses for social housing. However, he noted that the private market usually does not operate in this manner and is based on profit logic. Hence, such decisions do not concern the government’s regulations and solely depend on the developers themselves.

According to the Housing Bureau, 49 cases were recorded so far in 2017 where residents assigned public housing had not been living there.  Twenty-nine of these 49 houses have since been returned to the government.

MOP27.873b budget surplus recorded

In 2016, the government recorded a MOP27.87 billion budget surplus.  The total integrated expenditure of the SAR government in 2016 was almost MOP82.63 billion, which corresponds to MOP1.875 billion more than in 2015.  This information was revealed yesterday by the Secretary for Economy and Finance, Lionel Leong, when announcing the government’s 2016 budget execution rate at the Legislative Assembly (AL). The ratios of expenditure spent on education, economy services, public administration, and social security were 12.3 percent, 12 percent, 11.1 percent, and 9.4 percent respectively. The rest was spent on social services and other projects. The Legislative Assembly’s budget for 2018 is MOP184.63 million, representing a 0.71 percent decrease. The AL budget for 2018 was passed by the lawmakers yesterday.