Hong Kong is generally known the world over for its material comforts
and affluent lifestyle. But there’s a dark it as well that not many
are aware of. Parallel to the wealthy citizens of Hong Kong there exists
a community that is unable to cope with skyrocketing housing prices.
These people are quite literally forced to live in tiny metal cages.
What’s worse is that the cages don’t come for free either. Stacked on
top of each other, the 1.5 sq m enclosuress can be rented at a price of
1,300 Hong Kong dollars (about US $167) per month. These cages are
crammed into a single dilapidated apartment in a working-class
neighborhood in West Kowloon. Believe it or not, these metal living
quarters are home to a whopping 100,000 people, according to statistics
provided by a social welfare group called the Society for Community
Organization. Other types of inadequate housing include apartments
subdivided into tiny cubicles or filled with coffin-sized wood and metal
sleeping compartments as well as rooftop shacks. Only two toilet stalls
are available in each apartment and have to be shared by hundreds of
single, elderly men, who make up the majority of the cage-occupants. No
kitchen as such is provided; there’s only a small room with a sink.
Almost all the men wash their clothes in a bucket. Instead of using
mattresses, the men use thin pads, bamboo mats or old linoleum in their
cages to keep the bedbugs away.
Leung Cho-yin is one of them. The 67-year-old former butcher says,
“I’ve been bitten so much, I’m used to it.” Revealing a red mark on his
hand, he says, “There’s nothing you can do about it. I’ve got to live
here. I’ve got to survive.” Leung has been living in a cage for 20 years
now, ever since he stopped working after losing part of a finger. He
didn’t have much of an education to fall back on, so he has only been
able to find intermittent work. He has no family and doesn’t want to
apply for public housing because he’d have to leave his cage-mates and
live alone. So he expects to spend the rest of his life in the cage.
It’s not that the people who do apply for public housing get to move out
quickly. A recent survey revealed that almost 75% of 500 low-income
families have been on the list for over 4 years without being given a
flat. 63-year-old Lee Tat-fong is one of them. She hopes that she and
her two grandchildren can get out of their cubicle apartment as soon as
possible. In spite of suffering from diabetes and back problems, she has
been taking care of the young children ever since their father
disappeared. Their mother hasn’t been able to get a permit to come to
Hong Kong from mainland China. For now, the family-of-three lives in a
50 sq ft room, one-seventh of an existing apartment. The communal
kitchen and two toilets are shared with the other residents. “There’s
too little space here,” she says. “We can barely breathe. It’s
exhausting and sometimes I get so pent up with anger that I cry, but no
one sees because I hide away.”
Home prices in Hong Kong rose 23% in the first 10 months of 2012, and
have doubled since 2008. Rental values have suffered the same fate as
well. Low interest rates and easy credit are one of the many causes for
this. Because of these soaring costs, decent homes become unaffordable
to a large percentage of the population leading to anger and resentment
towards the government. Things were pretty bad until Hong Kong’s
ex-chief executive Donald Tsang held office. Many say that he ignored
the problem completely. But ever since Leung Chun-ying took over last
July, things have been looking up because he has acknowledged the issue
and is trying to fix it. “Many families have to move into smaller or
older flats, or even factory buildings,” he said. “Cramped living space
in cage homes, cubicle apartments and sub-divided flats has become the
reluctant choice for tens of thousands of Hong Kong people.” Chun-ying
recently unveiled plans to boost the supply of public
housing. Unfortunately, most of the cage dwellers have little or no
faith in what the government can do for them.
No comments:
Post a Comment