The so-called “cage men” in Hong Kong may be among the city’s poorest, but rents per square foot for their dingy wire-mesh cubicles are now on the same level with luxury flats in HK’s famed Peak district.
With property prices in HK increasing and urban redevelopment reducing the supply of older, cheaper tenement blocks, thousands of cage men living in a 15-sq-ft cubicle, which usually accommodates eight persons to a room, are being squeezed even more.
According to Sze Lai-shan of the Society for Community Organization, rents for cage homes in the city had increased almost 20 percent over the past year, with some cages renting for up to HK$1,500 or S$265. On a square-foot basis, rental rates surpass those of some mansions in HK’s exclusive Peak district where many local tycoons reside.
”There have been rental price rises all the time,” said Ms. Sze. ”It’s more expensive than the Peak district, which is about HK$30-40 per square foot.”
While the city’s financial hub enjoys a reputation as one of the most affluent cities in Asia, its wealth gap is also among the worst in the region, with about 100,000 of HK’s seven million inhabitants living in a tiny unit of less than 60 sq ft, said Ms. Sze.
“The government doesn’t really have a perspective for helping these people,” she said, who called the attention of the government to ban such cage home dwellings and build more public housing.
Meanwhile, the Hong Kong government stressed that public housing for general family applicants is available within an average waiting time of 1.9 years, while elderly applicants could wait for about 1.2 years to acquire a public flat. It added that short-term assistance is also available to people who need housing immediately.
”People choose to live in bedspace apartments and cubicles probably because these apartments are mostly conveniently located in the urban areas,” said a government spokesman.
Research conducted by Jones Lang LaSalle showed that the value of mass residential and luxury home properties in HK for the first quarter jumped 9.7 percent and 8.1 percent, respectively.