To evaluate the effectiveness of Green Form Subsidised Home Ownership Scheme

Abstract

The Green Form Subsidised Home Ownership Scheme (GSH) is one of the subsidised housing schemes launched by the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA) in 2015. It aims to introduce subsidized sale housing at a lower price than the Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) for Green Form (GF) applicants, i.e. mainly existing public rental housing (PRH) tenants, to assist them in home ownership and thereby free up PRH units for applicants on the PRH waiting list. The study aims to assess the effectiveness of the GSH in different aspects including policy, personal and societal level to measure whether the scheme can achieve the goals of implementation. This study adopted a mixed mode research which combined qualitative and quantitative research methods. To collect relevant quantitative data, residents of 2 GSH courts and 2 Tenants Purchase Scheme (TPS) estates were targeted to be the samples for the on-street surveys. In addition, in order to examine the current housing policies in Hong Kong from the perspective of the housing profession, an in-depth interview was conducted with a scholar in housing expertise who expressed his views on the characteristics, advantages and disadvantages, the level of government assistance, and the future direction of the GSH and the TPS from the professional perspective. At the conclusion of the study, the dissertation’s findings and recommendations on the Government’s housing strategy in the coming time would be suggested after a comprehensive review of the data and information obtained through the study. Since the launch of the GSH in 2015, it has been running for 7 years. Now is the right time to review and evaluate the GSH in order to make adjustments more in line with social realities.