The Housing Poverty and Poverty Alleviation under Urban Graduation Approach in Hong Kong

Housing affordability and substandard living conditions remain significant challenges in Hong Kong, a global city grappling with a severe housing crisis. In response, the Hong Kong government introduced transitional social housing (TSH) policies in 2018 to improve the livelihoods of low-income families. This study examine the housing poverty situation in Hong Kong, and provides a comprehensive examination of TSH projects, analyzing the policies, services, and social impact. The research combines quantitative and qualitative methods to conduct a thorough social impact assessment of TSH initiatives. The findings reveal substantial positive outcomes for residents participating in these projects. There were significant improvements in housing conditions, with an increase in living area per capita and a decrease in housing expenses per capita. The TSH projects also yielded positive effects on community issues and interpersonal relationships among residents. The study also identified key challenges, particularly surrounding the difficulty for residents in finding suitable housing after leaving the TSH projects. This highlights the need for a more holistic and sustainable approach to address the housing and livelihood problems faced by low-income families in Hong Kong.
On the other hand, a newly proposed 'Urban Graduation Approach' (UGA) has been implemented in recent TSH projects. This comprehensive, time-bound, and targeted poverty alleviation initiative aims to uplift disadvantaged households in TSH by applying and transferring knowledge from multidimensional poverty analysis, housing's impact on well-being, and social interventions. The UGA project focuses on thousand households living in TSH projects. It aims at applying the UGA to uplift poor TSH households and to empower underprivileged households in building resilient and sustainable livelihoods while improving their well-being and social networks. The project trains and supervises Family Capacity Building Planners (FCBPs) in TSH sites to provide intensive interventions to help low-income families escape poverty. The project involves a multi-layered approach, including the enhancement of TSH infrastructure and community, the deployment of FCBPs to develop tailored Capacity Building Plans, and the provision of UGA interventions such as market-linked employment support, financial and digital inclusion, life skills and well-being coaching, and household asset-building. This study highlights the substantial impact of TSH projects in Hong Kong and the need for a more comprehensive and sustainable approach to address the housing and livelihood challenges faced by low-income families. The UGA represents an pilot intervention model that combines multidimensional poverty analysis, housing's impact on well-being, and targeted social interventions to uplift disadvantaged households and contribute to the theoretical and practical knowledge base of poverty alleviation in Hong Kong.