The effectiveness of the application of barrier free facilities in public rental housing estate

Abstract

The barrier free access and facilities has been raised attention in recent decades in Hong Kong. The reasons behind would be attributed to the emergent situation of ageing population and the needs from persons with disabilities. The growing population of elderly carried the necessity of improving accessibility in living environment due to the elderly would become a major part in the society and require extra care and better integration of facilities for their gradually declined physical condition and mobility. In order to improve the accessibility issue in living environment, The Housing Authority has carried out a comprehensive renovation work and implemented an Access Co-ordinators and Officers Programme in Public Rental Housing Estate. The use of the Access Co-ordinators and Officers Programme aims to improve the barrier free environment in residential area and handle accessible issues from people who are in need in using those accessible facilities in Public Rental Housing Estate. However, the effectiveness of those measures is in doubt due to lack of sufficient supervision on the accessibility issues, lack of sufficient barrier free facilities as well as the inefficiency of service quality from Access Officer. In addition, parts of the Public Rental Housing Estates are outsourced to PSA in which the management and the role of Access Officer could be different when compared to the estate under the management by The Housing Authority.

This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of the implementation of barrier free facilities in residential area of Public Rental Housing Estate and how the role of Access Officers contributed to a better barrier free environment. Through the questionnaires survey on elderly and persons with disabilities, site observation in particular estates and interview with Access Officer, it is expected that the accessibility level, user satisfaction and quality of barrier free facilities in residential area could be identified, and actual duties of Access Officer in respect of improving the barrier free environment in residential area could be indicated. After the analysis of the effectiveness of the application of barrier free facilities, some respondents suggested to install particular barrier free facilities in residential area. However, it is time consuming for such installation as Access Officer has to coordinate with technical team to study the possibility and limitation of the installation. Moreover, the quality service of Access Officer is in doubt as lack of regular training and supervision. According to the findings of interviewing the Access Officer, it is discovered the regular inspection on barrier free facilities was carried out by the security guards. In this regard, better coordination between Access Officer and security guards. In this regard, better coordination between Access Officer and security guards for reviewing the inspection procedure is required while organizing barrier free seminars by associations for people with disability to enhance their knowledge on accessible aspect is another solution to identify the barrier free concerns in the residential area and handle the issue.