Wanted: extension of economic housing applications, say lawmakers

Amid the partial or full suspension of public and private services deemed necessary by the government as part of its response to the Covid-19 outbreak, the Housing Bureau has not announced its intention to extend the ongoing application period for subsidized housing.

More commonly known as economic housing, the subsidized housing scheme is a policy to ease the housing burden for qualifying local residents. Since it is not a policy serving the entire population, applications must be submitted to the government to commence a person’s participation.

The current application round opened on November 27 last year, and will end on March 26. Last month, all government offices were forced to close or operate at minimum capacity due to epidemic control and prevention.

As a result, the Housing Bureau suspended its applications. Banks and some offices were also not in operation, meaning that some prospective applicants were unable to obtain the required documents to make an application.

Despite public services returning to normal yesterday, both the Health Bureau (SSM) and the Public Security Police Force (PSP) continuously remind the general public to stay vigilant and avoid gathering in crowds.

Both entities have encouraged people to avoid buying face masks at the start of each phase of mask sale, so as to avoid the formation of crowds. The Finance Bureau has announced a postponement of the deadline for certain tax declaration procedures, including those for income tax.

When the government announced its resumption of public services, the Housing Bureau also announced it would resume accepting economic housing applications on March 2. Complaints from netizens over the absence of an extension were on several news outlets and social media pages.

The Times attempted to reach out to the Housing Bureau for comment, but did not receive a reply by press time.

Yesterday, local news outlet Macao Daily News published photos on its online edition showing long queues at the door of the Housing Bureau.

When asked whether an extension is preferred, lawmaker Agnes Lam said it is “absolutely needed”.

“It is reasonable to extend the application period,” the lawmaker told the Times.

Lam is not alone in seeing grounds for an extension. Holding similar views are lawmakers Au Kam San and Ella Lei. Both affirmed that an extension was crucial. All parties agree that if the Housing Bureau does not extend the application period, such a decision will go against the government’s effort in fighting Covid-19, particular with regard to their efforts to discourage people from forming crowds.

“Some members of the public have reached me or my colleague, Ron Lam, about the complications of the application [procedure],” said commentator, Johnson Ian. “They complained that the application period should have been longer.” As a result, he strongly recommends the government to extend the application period.

As of yesterday, the Housing Bureau has received about 8,000 applications for subsidized housing. A previous application round in 2013 saw a total of more than 42,000 applications received.

“Considering the popularity of economic housing project, I expect there will be at least 30,000 more applications […] in the next two weeks or so,” said Ian. His prediction is conservative compared to Au’s, which suggests the number may soar to 45,000 in total. “After all, the Bureau is offering 3,011 flats this time,” the lawmaker pointed out.

Au also did not see any reason not to extend the application period. “The flats won’t be built [for] at least five years,” the lawmaker said. “Unless the flats are already here, an extension won’t cause a huge problem.”

Ian, Au and Lam also said that they all consider the required documents for application to be execissive.

Business owners are required to submit profit and loss accounts signed by a certified accountant or auditor.

“A large number of local companies are small to medium-sized. It is a complication for them to hire accountants or auditors to verify their accounts,” said Ian.

These documents are unnecessary, Au argued, because there is no such requirement in the governing law. “The law hasn’t changed. It means that the Housing Bureau is asking for excessive documents,” the lawmaker said. “It makes sense for the Bureau to require this when an applicant wins the chance to purchase a flat. But asking for such documents at the very beginning is simply overburdening the people.”

Lam thinks that the government should think of other ways to collect this type of financial information.