2024 Winter Issue of Urban Land - 66

The burden of senior housing policy would fall on the
development and housing bureaus, while the benefits
would fall to the health and welfare bureaus.
- LAM CHING-CHOI, CEO, HAVEN OF HOPE CHRISTIAN SERVICE
Barriers to development
Outside the residential care home category,
Hong Kong has only five senior living facilities,
with a total of just under 1,700 units. Only two
of these facilities, with fewer than 1,000 units
between them, are private and nonsubsidized.
A significant barrier to the development of
senior housing has been the sector's lack of
specific zoning and its lower land premium,
versus standard residential use. Donald Choi,
executive director and CEO of Chinachem
Group, said that this difference means Hong
Kong developers choose for-sale residential
instead.
In Australia, for example, the government
provides incentives for senior housing
development, including special land
premiums and change of use permission for
land previously allocated to light industrial
purposes. Developers can also gain up to 25
percent extra floor space for senior housing.
Choi added that the services element of
senior housing provision would boost returns,
but customers would have to accept that they
must pay for both rent and services.
Hannah Jeong, head of valuation and
advisory services at Colliers Hong Kong,
pointed out that building regulations also
needed to change to ensure that senior
housing was built to the right specifications
and standards. Specialized senior living
requires safe kitchens and bathrooms, as well
as space for wheelchairs.
A further challenge for Hong Kong is
understaffing, which is a problem already. Lam
Ching-Choi, CEO of Haven of Hope Christian
Service and a member of the executive
council of the Hong Kong SAR government,
said existing facilities management staff could
be retrained to interact with elderly people.
The report also suggests that technology
can be used to support senior housing and
reduce the need for staff. Digital health
monitoring, motion sensors (to detect
falls), and internet of things (IoT) devices
could help manage senior housing facilities.
Communication tools and even robots could
be used to keep residents in touch with
families and physicians.
Historically, the city government has paid
little attention to the senior housing sector,
focusing instead on overall delivery of housing.
Furthermore, the requirement for cooperation
between government departments has been
an obstacle, Ching-Choi said: " The burden
of senior housing policy would fall on the
development and housing bureaus, while the
benefits would fall to the health and welfare
bureaus. " Thus, support for senior housing
" must be a political decision which comes
from the top, because it benefits the whole
of society. " Lam added, however, that he
expected to hear more from the government
regarding policy in 2024.
In the meantime, he suggested that
more could be done to make existing
public housing estates more senior friendly.
Singapore has invested significantly in senior
housing in recent years, and the city-state
has been promoting active aging hubs in
mainstream housing developments to support
intergenerational communities.
Developments that show what can be
done with senior housing could encourage
the government, Choi said, and so, Chinachem
would proceed accordingly. He noted: " This
[business can] help Hong Kong to be more
livable and improve the quality of life for our
senior citizens. " UL
MARK COOPER is a freelance journalist based in Hong Kong. He is
editor and cofounder of Sustain.
66
URBAN LAND WINTER 202 4
2024 Winter Issue of Urban Land

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of 2024 Winter Issue of Urban Land
