Newsletter No. 454

8 454 • 19.3.2015 ’ 本刊由香港中文大學資訊處出版，每月出版兩期。截稿日期及稿例載於 www.iso.cuhk.edu.hk/chinese/newsletter/ 。 The CUHK Newsletter is published by the Information Services Office, CUHK, on a fortnightly basis. Submission guidelines and deadlines can be found at www.iso.cuhk.edu.hk/english/newsletter/ . 你是未來城市研究所副所長，這個研究所是做甚麼的？ 這個研究所轄下有五個研究中心，我主力負責土地和房屋政策 議題，其他同事則關注可持續發展、社區規劃、少數族裔文化， 以及藝術等未來城市發展須要關注的事項。當然，全球暖化、空 氣污染都是相關的議題，城市的特點是跨學科、全方位，需要很 多不同專業的團隊一起合作。 甚麼原因促使你關注和研究香港房屋問題？ 我的專業是建築測量師，早年一直關注舊樓失修問題，無可避 免涉及物業價值，當時發現某些樓宇質素很差，但卻繼續升值。 國際上大部分城市樓價都只是比建築成本貴一點而已，但香港 很奇怪，建築成本只佔樓宇價值的三分之一至五分之一那麼小， 那其餘那些是什麼呢？我從此就開始研究香港房屋問題。 現在的高樓價為社會帶來哪些影響？ 香港樓價已去到國際指標稱為「極度無法負擔」的程度，帶來 的社會問題：首先是影響家庭的決策，如不敢結婚，推遲結婚， 不敢生育，這又影響到社會未來人口夠不夠。其次，人們被迫 住在一些非常不適宜居住的環境，包括籠屋、棺材房、劏房，現 在甚至連豬欄也可以賣出去讓人住，整個城市的宜居度急劇下 降。最後，房屋不能負擔，是導致社會上仇恨不滿情緒和排外心 態的導火線之一。 導致香港高樓價的原因何在？ 三個令香港樓價去到不能負擔地步的因素，都是政府造成。第 一是政府在銀根供應方面依循聯繫匯率，導致這段時間美國 減息印鈔票，大量熱錢流入，推高香港樓價。第二是人口，如果 政府對於內地移民沒有審批權，甚至鼓吹輸入高質素專才和勞 工，在房屋已經不能負擔及供應不足的情況下再增加高收入人 口，只會把樓價推得更高。第三是土地供應，政府供應的土地長 期不足，甚至曾長期停止供應，導致今天的惡果。 最近有學者撰文提倡開發郊野公園，你有何看法？ 討論開發郊野公園時要留意兩件事，第一，香港市區人口密度 達到每平方公里二萬五千人，是全球密度最高的頭幾位，但全港 平均人口密度，約是每平方公里七千人，在世界上屬中度水平，雖 已跌出宜居城市之列，但還不算太差，這是因為前殖民政府選 擇一種高度集中的城市發展模式，在市區作高密度發展，鄉村、 郊野公園和綠化帶則維持低密度，甚至無人居住狀態，讓市民 觀看錄像，請掃描QR碼或瀏覽以下網址： To watch the video, please scan the QR code or visit: www.iso.cuhk.edu.hk/video/?nsl454-edward-yiu You’re an associate director of the Institute of Future Cities. What does this institute do? The institute has five centres. I focus on research on land and housing policy. My colleagues work on sustainability, community planning, cultures of ethnic minorities, and art, which are some areas related to the development of future cities. Of course, global warming and air pollution are also relevant topics. Studies on cities are interdisciplinary in nature and require the cooperation of experts from different fields. What made you focus your studies on Hong Kong’s housing problems? I’m a professional surveyor. I used to concern myself with the problem of building dilapidation, which inevitably involves the issue of property value. I found that even though some buildings were quite shoddily constructed, their value kept rising. House prices in most cities around the world are only slightly higher than their costs. The situation in Hong Kong is 共享自然生態。這其實是一種取捨。所以千萬不要在地圖上看 到郊野公園佔我們百分之四十的土地，就以為很多，可以隨便 拿來用。如果這樣做，全港人口平均密度勢必增加，生活質素每 下愈況。 第二是根本沒有必要發展郊野公園，香港有四千公頃閒置官 地，還有八百公頃棕土，就是現在新界用作貨櫃場、劏車場、貨 倉那些遭破壞和污染的農地。如實施棕土先行政策，就能獲得 大量土地，起碼二三十年內都沒必要討論發展郊野公園。 房屋問題有何正本清源的解決方法？ 最根本的解決之道是有真正的民主政府，改變現在那種土地屬 於政府而非人民的前殖民地式錯誤制度，令有關土地的決策受 民意監察；但這個理想似乎不是那麼快可以實現。另一個中短 期的解決方法是實行新加坡式組屋政策。在新加坡，組屋是公 民權利，只要是公民就能以可負擔的價格獲得居所；香港的公 屋卻是福利，入息要低到某一程度才能申請。其實現時香港的 資助房屋已佔全港房屋量的一半以上，大量已超過入息和資產 限額的家庭繼續住在資助房屋之內，與其大家爭相申請公屋和 居屋，不如召開一次全面的諮詢和討論，如果大家都屬意實行 新加坡組屋制度，就將之變成恆常的政策，令市民安心，把精力 用於發展事業，無謂不必要地浪費在房屋之上。 Photo by ISO staff strange. Construction costs make up only one-third to one- fifth of house prices. What’s the rest? Curiosity about this made me study Hong Kong’s housing problems. What are the problems of high property prices? Property in Hong Kong has been ranked ‘severely un- affordable’ by international standards. This causes social problems. First, it has an impact on people’s decisions to get married and have children. People don’t get married or delay marriage, and they are reluctant to have children. This in turn affects our demographical growth. Second, people are forced to live in some very unbearable housing, such as caged homes, coffin rooms, sub-divided flats. Now even pigsties are sold for people to live in. The livability of the city has deteriorated significantly. Finally, housing unaffordability causes social unrest and xenophobia. What are the causes of Hong Kong’s sky-high property prices? Hong Kong’s unaffordable housing market has three causes, and our government is to blame for them. First, the government has pegged our currency to the US dollar. When the US lowers their interest rates and adopted a policy of monetary easing, our property market suffers from overheating as a result of a continuous inflow of ‘hot money’ into the city. Second, the government doesn’t have the authority to screen and approve newcomers from mainland China to the city. In fact it is eager to bring in quality migrants and high-skilled workers. When our housing is unaffordable and in short supply, the increase in high-income people will only push house prices higher. Third, there is a long-standing shortage of land supply. The government even placed a moratorium on land sales. This is also a cause of our current woes. Some scholars have advised that we should develop our country parks. What’s your view on this? We must keep two things in mind when discussing the issue of developing country parks. First, the population density of urban areas in Hong Kong is 25,000 people per km 2 , which is among the highest in the world. But the overall density of Hong Kong as a whole is 7,000 people per km 2 , which falls somewhere in the middle on a worldly scale. With such high density, Hong Kong is not considered a livable city, but it is not too bad. The colonial government chose a model of concentrated development for this city. Urban areas have been built to high density, while rural areas, country parks and the green belt have remained low density or uninhabited, so that citizens can enjoy the natural environment in the countryside. This is a trade-off. So, we can’t say: Wow, 40% of our land is country parks. It’s a lot. Let’s take some out for development. If we do so, the overall density of Hong Kong will significantly increase and our living quality will plunge. The second reason that we should leave our country parks alone is the fact that we have 4,000 hectares of unused government land and 800 hectares of brownfields. Brownfields are contaminated land used as container depots, scrapyards and storage areas. By adopting a brownfield-first policy, we can acquire enough land. And we can leave aside the issue of touching country parks for the next 20 or 30 years. Is there any way to solve our housing problems once and for all? The most optimal solution is a real democratic government. With real democracy, we can right the wrongs of the past colonial system of treating land as an asset of the government, instead of the people. And any decisions on land can be put under public scrutiny. But it seems that this solution won’t be coming any time soon. A short- or medium-term solution is adopting Singapore’s public housing programme. In Singapore, affordable housing is a right to which every citizen is entitled. In Hong Kong, public housing is a social welfare benefit that only people with low-enough income can enjoy. But in reality subsidized housing makes up more than half of the total housing units in Hong Kong. Many people with incomes or assets exceeding the limits still live in subsidized housing. Rather than letting people fight for public housing and home ownership scheme flats, why don’t we hold an extensive public consultation? If the general public is in favour of the Singaporean model, then we should make it a consistent policy. Then people can focus their energy on developing their careers instead of fretting about housing. 未來城市研究所副所長 姚松炎教授 Prof. Edward Yiu Associate Director of Institute of Future Cities