Questions on the Huffington Post article (click on above link!):
- In what type of housing do the wealthiest inhabitants live?
- How many people live in “inadequate housing”?
- How big are the metal cages?
- Why do people live in “coffin apartments”, metal cages, cubicle apartments, or rooftop shacks?
- How are the authorities hoping to tackle the problem?
- Why is the city’s leader unpopular?
- How many people live in public rental flats?
- How many people live at or below the poverty line?
- Do the poor have much hope of getting a decent home?
- Is the housing shortage threatening social stability?
Answers to the above questions:
- They live in mansions and luxury apartments (there are many in Victoria Peak).
- About 100,000 (in working class areas like Sham Shui Po district, and Jordan area in Yau Tsim Mong district, cf. Google Earth map of Hong Kong!).
- 1,5m². They are cramped, unsafe, and dirty (there are bed bugs).
- Because of the “skyrocketing housing prices” the poorest can only afford this type of accommodation.
- The authorities will “boost supply of public housing”.
- Because people think he is not doing enough to solve the housing crisis (i.e. not building enough cheap housing quickly).
- About 1/3 of Hong Kong’s 7,1 million inhabitants.
- About 1,19 million (and the number is rising fast).
- No, as decent private flats are too expensive, and there is a long wait (at least four years) for a public rental flat.
- Yes, the overcrowding and the insalubrious environment lead to social unrest. The social and spatial divide in Hong Kong is very marked; rich people live in luxury homes in the most pleasant parts of the city, whilst the poor are crowded into the poor areas. The population pressure (i.e. too many people for the amount of available space) means that there is a high demand for living space, the cost of which increases with the rising demand. Even middle class people are finding it more and more difficult to rent or buy a decent home. Hong Kong is a divided city because of population pressure, but also because the economic and social system of Hong Kong favours the wealthy, and because the local authorities are inefficient.
Shocking disparity in HK (photos)
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Rooftop homes in Sham Shui Po district (photos)
- What is worse than it has been for the last three decades?
- What does the Gini coefficient measure?
- What is the government arguing?
- By how much did the income of Hong Kong’s poorest 10% drop over the period 2006-2009 (in HK$)?
- By how much did the income of Hong Kong’s wealthiest 10% increase in the period 2006-2009 (in HK$)?
- When was the minimum wage introduced?
- What “should be our major target” in solving poverty according to Law Chi-kwang?
- Why, according to Sze Lai-shan, was the previous Commission on Poverty inefficient?
Answers to the above questions on the video:
- It is the gap in income between Hong Kong’s wealthiest and poorest inhabitants.
- It measures income inequality.
- That poverty is “not as bad as it looks”!
- It has decreased by 180$ per annum on average (which does not seem much, but the cost of living has increased).
- It has increased on average by more than 19,000$.
- It was introduced in 2011.
- The lower income elderly households should be helped most.
- It had little power to implement change or have public spending increased.
More documents on Hong Kong to study (click on the links below):
Questions (to answer, you will need to have studied ALL the links listed above!):
- In what ways is Hong Kong a divided society?
- What might be the long-term result of these inequalities?
- How similar is your town to Hong Kong as regards social and spatial divisions?
The teacher's answer to question 1: In what ways is Hong Kong a divided city?
The teacher's answer to question 2: What might be the long-term result of these inequalities?
The teacher's answer to question 3: How similar is your town to Hong Kong as regards social and spatial divisions?
There is spatial divide:
The rich live
in big houses in pleasant areas like Victoria Peak or in the very expensive
flats in the central redeveloped areas like New Kowloon, whilst the poor live
in inadequate housing (living with extended family members in overcrowded
flats; renting smaller and smaller living spaces; cage homes; makeshift homes
on rooftops, etc.). The cost of housing is among the highest in the world and
rising. Demand for affordable housing is very high. House prices doubled
between 2009 and 2013 because of the limited supply, and because there are many
mainland Chinese investors (who can borrow money from banks at low interest
rates). The government’s measures to solve the housing crisis, for example to
build more high-rise public housing (which is still expensive, cf. BBC radio
programme) and to double the transaction fees on upmarket homes, have been
insufficient. Half of Hong-Kong’s housing is public because of the high cost of
private housing. Waiting lists are very long (at least four years) to get a
council flat. Redevelopment (building of new, modern, skyscrapers) is pushing
the poorest out onto the streets.
There is social divide:
Hong Kong is
a modern and very wealthy city; the income of the rich continues to rise. The income
gap between rich and poor however has increased over the last thirty years. The
cost of living is rising, badly affecting the poor: their income is stagnating
or even decreasing, which is made worse by inflation and the increased housing
cost. The lack of adequate housing is affecting the health (and mental health)
of the poor, especially of the young and old. There is extreme promiscuity, a
dirty environment, and a feeling of being imprisoned and of loneliness. There
are more than 100,000 very poor people (mostly young low-skilled migrant
workers, the unemployed, and the elderly with little or no income). They live
in housing that was originally intended as temporary.
The
population of HK is rising; migrant workers from mainland China are attracted
by prospect of work. The consequent overcrowding (Hong Kong is already one of
the world’s most densely populated regions with an average of 6,300 people per
square km, and it has the highest concentration of skyscrapers: more than 6000),
increased traffic and pollution, and poor sanitary conditions are taking their
toll on the (poorest) inhabitants.
The teacher's answer to question 2: What might be the long-term result of these inequalities?
Life is
increasingly difficult for the poorest (though middle-income families are also
affected). There is growing anger against the (local and central) government accused
of being inefficient (for example over housing: not taking big decisions and
not increasing the budget). The “one country, two systems” principle of economic
and administrative autonomy for Hong Kong agreed by the Beijing government
during the handover of the former British colony in 1997 does not seem to be
working… People accept less and less the increasingly difficult living
conditions. The recent pro-democracy riots are probably just the beginning of
social unrest.
The teacher's answer to question 3: How similar is your town to Hong Kong as regards social and spatial divisions?
My town looks very different from Hong Kong!
It is a very quiet town in a rural area of central France, the main town
of a “canton”. It is 15 minutes from the nearest big market town and 50km along
the motorway from the regional capital. It is a dormitory town for a third of
the working population.
The number of inhabitants (a little over 1000, making it smaller than an
average French town, i.e. 1650 people) has not changed since the 1950s, though
the percentage of retired people has increased (now about 25% of the
population). The average age is about 45 (higher than the French average). 25%
of the population is under 25. There is a primary school but no secondary
school. Facilities for young people are limited; most young people hope to
study and then live in a city. Population density is about 45
people per km² (this is low). The unemployment rate is about 13% (this is above
the national average). The activities are farming, services (including a large
retirement home), and tourism (four restaurants). There are a few small shops
(half have closed down in the past ten years). There is a very small weekly
street market. Most people shop at the supermarkets in the neighbouring large
town.
It is not a wealthy town, with little to attract people either for work,
to settle, or for entertainment. The fact that many shops have
recently closed makes the town seem poor and unwelcoming. Very little public
work has been done over the last twenty years (other than a recent improvement
to the main access road and the modernization of the retirement home which is
in a central position of the town). The roads are very narrow and cars have
problems getting around (there is not enough parking space).
Perhaps a quarter of the houses are empty or only used during the
holidays. There are many houses for rent or for sale. There are quite a few handsome
(some large) medieval/renaissance houses in the centre of the town (most have
been converted into flats, some are lived in by quite wealthy, mostly retired,
people). The layout of the town has not changed much since the 12th
century (a village around the central church and a circular road around the
outskirts where the town wall used to be). The town expanded in the 19th
century (when the population was twice what it is today). Most of the
wealthiest inhabitants live in large houses in the countryside or in restored
traditional houses in the pretty surrounding villages. Within the town, differences
between the housing for the wealthy and the poor are not immediately obvious
(the size and age of people’s cars is a clearer indicator of income disparity!).
There are quite a few long-term unemployed people (5% of the active
population?); they live mostly in public houses or in cheap private
accommodation (both in good condition) that are scattered throughout the town. Private-rented
and council accommodation makes up about a quarter of the housing stock. There
are no low-rise or high rise buildings. Very little housing development has
been undertaken (the population is stable). The cost of housing is much lower
than in bigger towns. Most of the houses are contiguous. Most have been
upgraded (increased comfort). Many people would prefer to live in a detached
home (there have been a few built on the outskirts of town). The housing is
mostly old (over 150 years old) but in quite good condition.
Comparison with Hong Kong:
In my town, just like in Hong Kong, there are rich and poor and the
income gap is widening. Social disparities, however, are not as extreme in my
town as they are in Hong Kong. There are no very poor people here and no
inadequate housing. Population density is very low compared to Hong Kong!
Just like in Hong Kong, there are differences in my town between types
of accommodation: the wealthier inhabitants have mostly bigger, more comfortable
homes, often free-standing and with gardens (but not necessarily more modern
seen from the outside). Within my town, the spatial separation between housing
for the rich and housing for the poor is much less marked than it is in Hong
Kong. There are, however, some very big country houses in the rural part of the
“commune” here, just like in Hong Kong.
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