Call for space for subdivided flat tenants
Homemaker Carol Chen Dan-dan beamed with pride when her 11-year-old son and 12 other families praised the lettuce meat wraps and fried lotus roots she had prepared for a Lunar New Year reunion dinner in January at a “neighbourhood kitchen”.
It was the first time Chen, 45, who has barely enough space to cook in her cramped home, introduced cuisine from her hometown Guangdong to her son.
The family lives in an 82 sq ft subdivided flat in Sai Wan, one of the districts clustered with shoebox units notorious for hygiene and security hazards.
“I can only boil noodles and vegetables for my son, at most steaming fish and meat. I rarely prepare deep-fried food as it creates smoke and smells that stick in my home. He always complains about the dull meals,” Chen said.
“He has heard a lot about my childhood food but did not have a chance to taste it … I am very happy as I got recognised by my son and neighbours.”
All that was made possible for subdivided flat tenants such as Chen with a 3,000 sq ft community space on two floors of a commercial building in Sai Wan funded by the Jockey Club Healthy Neighbourhood Kitchen Project.
The facility also allows residents to use cooking utensils and cycling machines for free.
With the government proposing to launch similar projects this year, welfare groups have voiced hope authorities could be open to different operation models while locating premises and funders to create breathing space for subdivided flat tenants.
The groups hoped the strategy of inviting the business sector or statutory bodies to rent out premises to welfare groups at a low cost or for free would help alleviate poverty.
Benjamin Sin Chiu-hang, a senior social work supervisor at the Sai Wan project, said the “extended living space” concept was different from traditional community centres that served families from all walks of life.
“Subdivided flats are like cancer in a building as they affect the structure and hygiene … The unwelcomed sentiments are passed on to the tenants,” Sin said.
“They often have low selfimage and self-doubt in front of other social groups. They dare not use the services … but they can build trust in this space. They won’t look down on each other.”
Anthony Lai, service development officer at the project, said the facility had also nurtured tenants’ healthy lifestyles as they attended fitness classes and prepared meals with ingredients donated by nearby stalls.
“Health talks can only teach them a healthy eating style but they can hardly implement it … The facility has become a practice ground and they can even suggest what they want to do, such as taking the initiative to teach stretching exercises or prepare meals,” Lai said.
The facility also sells medicine at low costs, while a medical team comprising a nurse, pharmacist, physiotherapist and nutritionist gives health recommendations and follows up on the cases of the tenants.
In operation since August 2021, the monthly expense of the community space is up to HK$680,000, with the salary of 14 professionals working there, including social workers, accounting for 70 per cent.
Senior supervisor Sin, acknowledging the cost, said the government did not need to copy the particular model in future projects but could adopt other methods with the same goal. He estimated at least 41 such centres had to be set up in urban districts to provide convenience for residents in the long run.
He urged authorities to link up different sectors to cater to tenant needs, such as food donations for those living in areas with higher commodity prices, or maintenance help for residents of old buildings.
In Sham Shui Po, also one of the city’s poorest districts, the NGO Society for Community Organisation has three learning centres, where users can rest and borrow computers in open spaces ranging from a few hundred to 3,000 sq ft.
But they often have to give way to training courses in the centre as there are no separate rooms.
Despite hoping to expand and improve the facilities, Sze Lai-shan, the organisation’s deputy director, said it did not have the resources.
“It is hard to find big flats. The rent will go up, especially in buildings with lifts. It is difficult to find funding as funders normally prefer donating resources or organising programmes rather than giving out a huge sum of money,” she said.
Sze said she hoped the government could help NGOs find premises such as temporary vacant public facilities or venues with low rent.
Peace Wong Wo-ping, chief officer of policy research and advocacy at the Hong Kong Council of Social Service, which oversees some 500 welfare groups, said he knew of about six community living spaces helping subdivided flat tenants in the city.
Wong said it might be hard to find spacious venues for future projects but the government could set up numerous small sites specialising in different services, such as laundry, dining and tutoring.
“It can create space for subdivided flat tenants to interact. Social workers can observe what they need and help to bridge them with public services,” Wong said.