Sub-Divided Units: Property Rights and Market Versus Right to Housing

Sub-divided units in Hong Kong arise out of the market logic. On one hand, their emergence may be regarded as a property-right-centred market ‘solution’ to housing unaffordability, with the landlords exercising property rights to the extent of evading building regulations for economic gains in response to market ‘demand’ for low-end housing. On the other hand, sub-divided units seem to pose a societal problem when viewed from the perspective of ‘right to housing’ which essentially comprises various dimensions and incorporates the concept of ‘equal right to housing’. Such sub-divided unit issues pose two dilemmas: (a) Strict legal enforcement of building regulations may result in rent increase, thereby aggravating housing unaffordability; (b) Strict legal enforcement of ‘right to housing’ will tend to outlaw sub-divided units, thereby leading to the emergence of ‘black market’ or making the dwellers homeless in view of the difficulty of imminent mass rehousing of such dwellers. The long-term alleviation of such housing issue requires a ‘softer’ approach: (a) substantively implement the positive housing right through the provision of public rental housing and third sector housing to rehouse the sub-divided unit dwellers in decent accommodation; (b) substantively and legally enforce negative housing right, with the citizens, landlords and housing practitioners refraining from housing discrimination, especially towards the ‘doubly deprived’ low-income disadvantaged minority groups. Confucian perspectives on government’s role in relation to basic needs, care for others, profit-making among others will be used to enrich such discussion on the issue of sub-divided units.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023