published_or_final_version / Architecture / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

Hong Kong has a long historical development of public housing and become one of the largest public housing programmes city in the world. However, the demand for housing of the low income young people is still not met. They cannot afford decent housing in the private market. Since Housing Authority (HA) introduced the Quota and Points System (QPS) in 2005 for single person applicants. The purpose of the scheme was to set an annual quota for non-elderly one-person applicants applying for public rental housing (PRH) and establish a points system to accord priority to applicants of higher age. The goal of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the existing housing subsidy policy for solving the housing problems of the young people in Hong Kong. First, I will investigate and define the housing problems of young people and trying to make some recommendations and suggestions to government. Therefore, a survey will be conducted through interview questionnaire to the young people in order to study their housing problems and general characteristics. By studying the housing problems of the lower income young people in Hong Kong and hope the findings of this research may provide insights for policy makers in tackling the young people's housing problems. / published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

The population of Hong Kong is aging very rapidly. When the Chief Executive appealed to the community to care for our elderly and to make them feel a sense of belonging, the question immediately comes to our mind is that how well our senior citizens are housed and their needs served. After studied the literatures and research, I found most of the elderly would like to stay in their own home that is now called the idea of Aging in Place. So I take this opportunity to evaluate the performance of the Hong Kong Housing Society, This study referred from the forms of elderly housing and policy available in five overseas countries, all of them are located at Asia. The research done in this study reveals that the elderly want to stay in their own home in their later life and also some improvements needed to be made for the aging in place successful in the Housing Society's public rental housing estates. To enable our senior citizens to live independently with dignity in their twilight years, it is necessary to have the provision of a spectrum of services in the estate community to ensure that the elderly can continue to live in the familiar environment even when their self-care ability deteriorates. Simultaneously, efforts should also be initiated by the Housing Society to depart from its traditional design by incorporating barrier-free and elderly-friendly features into the built environment and the housing units of the rental housing estates. Recommendations on how to serve the elderly better by providing quality housing covering the physical and the social aspects are put forward. / published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

Various studies from different universities indicated that Hong Kong is facing a serious housing problem especially for the singleton elderly. Lack of a viable retirement protection and the new trend of married children to live away their parents causes the elders become the major group of poor living alone in the sub-standard housing units in the old urban districts. The high demand for private flats has provided the impetus for private developers to launch the urban redevelopment projects. In the course of carrying out the redevelopment projects, the elders were forced to displace to a strange new community which makes them lost the social support and impairs their mental well-being. In addition, lack of offering local community relocation would discourage the elders to improve their living condition by opting for re-housing. By contrast, other scholar alleged that the physical characteristics of the housing environment are the major concern which affects the elder’s residential satisfactory the most and the social support from friends and neighbors played only a minor and insignificant role. In order to explore the factors affecting the relocation choice of the elders upon urban redevelopment, personal in-depth interviews were conducted for 42 elders selected from 3 newly launched urban redevelopment projects. The findings shows that the elders desire for a self-contained public housing unit for improving their living condition but they would give up the chance if the local community relocation is not guaranteed. It is concluded that the elders would sacrifice their living condition in exchange of the local community continuity. Furthermore, the financial ability is the most crucial factor affecting their decision of the living arrangement and their residential satisfactory. Recommendations were proposed to URA for offering the needed elderly local community relocation by building their own rehousing blocks in the targeted districts. Moreover, the URA should focus on promoting building rehabilitation as the alternative for solving the problem of urban decay while would not impair the life of the poverty elders living in the old urban areas. / published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

Since the growing aging population in Hong Kong and most of the elderly living under various public housing estates. Over the years, public housing program in Hong Kong have been expanding and now provides residence to a significant elder people in Hong Kong. For aged public housing estates which accommodate the majority of the elderly with inadequate facilities both in interior unit and in exterior to meet their daily needs while their physical capability deteriorating. Therefore, “Aging in place” become the better housing option for elder people to maintain the greater autonomy and be less dependent on other sources of assistance with adequate supportive services and facilities. Under this circumstance, elder people prefer to reside in the community or place which they have a strong sense of attachment and familiarize with. However, the redevelopment projects for the aged public housing estates pose a considerable threat to implement the “Aging in place” because this change the living environment for the elderly and relocation to other living places may not be able to accommodate the elderly needs for social connection. Therefore, we need to examine and assess the applicability of “Aging in place” under the redevelopment of public housing estates Through the literature review, “Aging in place” is defined to promote one’s ability to live in their current residence safely, comfortably and independently without moving. Also, this study is to investigate the concept of “Aging in place” has been used in planning and design stages of a public housing estate. In this regard, Pak Tin estate was used as case study. The findings showed that there were two blocks built as Senior Housing with standardized facilities and design to meet the housing needs for the elderly. The rest of the general public housing blocks did carry out the concept of “Universal Design” in communal area to assist the elderly in daily living. In future planning, demand a holistic approach among the concerned bureaux and departments in planning. The concept of “Aging in place” has been achieved in Pak Tin estate is assessed through conducting in-depth interview with elder people and stakeholders in Pak Tin estate. The findings showed that Senior Housing blocks are not popular with elder people because the interior design approaches of the unit cannot meet the housing needs for the elderly. While the general public housing in interior design is relatively acceptable to the elder resident upon modification of the unit and introduce the concept of “Universal Design” in the unit. The District and Community facilities are sufficient to assist the elder people in daily living and sometimes required to access other districts for necessary services which not available in the District. The improvement measures should be drawn to enhance accessible fitness facilities, offer various health services in the estate and district. For the community support service and social connection, the service provider is the Non-profit making organization which funded by the government. These NGOs offered the supportive services are praised by the elder resident to “Aging in place” and stay in the community. The attention should be drawn to cater for elder peope’s needs for social activities in planning and design of “Open spaces” and thus strengthen the neighborhood support. After consolidation and analysis of ideas from a case study and opinion from elder residents and stakeholder in Pak Tin estate, we recommended that the Design specification and approach in future blocks in public housing estate, Planning and Design Approach in Surrounding Area of Estate and District, Planning in Open Spaces for Community service and social connection and the HA’s role in implementing “Aging in place” should be reviewed in order to meet the housing needs of the elder residents. / published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

Housing is not only a shelter, but also the basic component of elderly’s well-being because it is a place for sustaining family and social connections, and most elderly persons wish to age in their own home as long as possible. The rapid ageing population in Hong Kong has lead to the continuous rise of the old age dependency ratio. Therefore, the Hong Kong government has pick up most of the caregiving responsibility by providing public rental housing, financial assistant, and elderly-care services to the elderly. However, ageing is a complicated process and meeting the needs of the elderly are not a simple task. Thus, the formal and informal social networks will need to work together in order to provide a more comprehensive services to the elderly and enhance the quality of the life of the elderly. / published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management