Rule-breaching affordable housing residents face eviction

The Housing Bureau (IH) has revealed that it has found more than ten affordable housing units in the Edificio Cheng Chong to be unoccupied by the units’ applicants. The Bureau said that it would investigate the cases, and offenders will potentially have their contracts with the IH terminated.
The IH has visited 296 affordable housing units in Edificio Cheng Chong as of February 3. During the visits, officials found that the occupants of 12 apartments did not match those who had applied for those units. The bureau said that they would investigate the cases further.
IH pointed out that, according to the Affordable Housing Law, if a promissory buyer of an affordable housing unit allows others to live in it, with or without benefiting from it, they can be fined for the action or have their promissory contract terminated, effectively evicting them from the premises.
In fact, the bureau visited 693 affordable housing units in several public housing projects in 2014, and found that six of the promissory buyers did not use their apartments for residential purposes. The authority has already issued fine notices to two such buyers.
Moreover, IH said in a statement yesterday that it has visited 1,858 families living in social housing units, and has found 128 cases of rule violations. The bureau issued warning letters in 42 cases and launched eviction procedures in 41. There were also 42 cases where the occupants voluntarily surrendered their apartments after being advised by the IH.
However, not all cases involved misuse of apartments. Some social housing residents received warning letters due to their undertaking unauthorized construction works or causing environmental hazards.