Hong Kong more unequal, less free as Carrie Lam leaves office

Hong Kong has emerged a more unequal city, its freedoms curtailed and international shine dulled after five years with Carrie Lam at the helm, analysts say, as her turbulent leadership draws to an end.

Lam, Hong Kong's first woman leader, took office promising to heal divisions and tackle livelihood issues, especially a housing crisis.

Her term was instead dominated by massive democracy protests and Beijing's subsequent crackdown, as well as a zero-Covid pandemic strategy that kept the city isolated while rivals reopened. She is on track to depart at the end of June with the lowest approval ratings of any leader since the handover from Britain.

In her final policy address last October, Lam described Hong Kong as "much stronger than ever" after China intervened to ensure stability. Her government survived the mass protest movement, but many say she failed to deliver on life improvement pledges-which even China's leadership says are at the heart of the city's "deep-rooted social conflicts".

Last year, 1.65 million Hong Kongers-nearly one in four-were living below the government's official poverty line, which for a one-person household means HK$4,400 ($560) a month. This was the highest level since records began 12 years ago. "The grassroots have been very neglected," said Sze Lai-shan, deputy director of the Society for Community Organization.

"Sometimes it feels like (the government) is living on a different planet." Even pro-establishment figures have been unimpressed.

"You may say (Lam) has been working very hard, but little has been achieved in solving the deteriorating livelihood issues and Hong Kong's deep-rooted conflicts," senior Beijing advisor Lau Siu-kai told AFP.

Last July, China's top official on Hong Kong affairs Xia Baolong gave a speech widely seen as a reflection of Beijing's growing impatience with the housing crisis, something every leader since the 1997 handover has failed to solve.

The city, Xia said, must "say goodbye" to cage homes and the tiny shared apartment rooms where some 220,000 Hong Kongers still dwell.

Hong Kong has long held the title of the world's most unaffordable housing market, where a study this year showed the median property price is 23 times the median household income.