A shortage of housing has been a long-standing issue for Hong Kong, especially for low-income households and individuals waiting for public rental housing (PRH) allocation. As of the end of 2020, there were more than 150,000 PRH applications from families and single elderly persons, with an average waiting time of 5.7 years.

To mitigate the rising need for affordable flats, the provision of more transitional housing is a possible solution. A cross-disciplinary research team led by Professor Ling Kar-kan, Director of the Jockey Club Design Institute for Social Innovation (DISI) of PolyU, recently received funding of HK$ 3.15 million from the Strategic Public Policy Research Funding Scheme (managed by the Policy Innovation and Co-ordination Office) to commence a three-year study on transitional housing. The research team is comprised of experts from PolyU’s Department of Building and Real Estate, Department of Building Services Engineering, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Department of Applied Social Sciences, as well as other professionals of the industry.

The research titled “Study on Effective Transitional Housing Delivery in Hong Kong” will compare local and overseas cases to identify commonalities and differences with a view to making pragmatic recommendations to the Government and NGOs for enhancing the city’s capacity on the delivery of transitional housing. It will also examine and make suggestions to streamline the development control regulations and approval process for the delivery of transitional housing, by promoting the adoption of Modular Integrated Construction (MiC) technology for enhancing the cost-effectiveness and design flexibility of the projects.

A series of user-friendly operational documents including a Policy Recommendation Report, a Best Practice Guide and a Development Manual will be produced upon completion of the study.