Forum December 2022: Housing and cost of living
With no exception for Hong Kongers, cost of living is no doubt a top concern for households in 2022. It is even more pressing when it comes to the Christmas season. The December forum with the topic “Housing and cost of living” explored various housing challenges faced by the Hong Kongers, and the difficulties faced amidst the cost of living crisis.
We are honoured to have Nicole Chan and Sarah Speller of Citizens Advice in North & West Kent, Shanthini Shanmugaguru of Migrant Advocacy Service, and Mina Ko of UKHK, Welcome churches to speak in the forum. The three organisations have been doing great work in assisting Hong Kongers’ arrival and integration in the country.
The one-hour forum is very insightful with sharings from the speakers and a fruitful discussion. Nicole and Sarah of Citizens Advice in North & West Kent gave the group an overview of the issues Hong Kongers may face when renting property and shared useful advice on rental disputes. They also remarked that some Hong Kongers’ settling plans were affected because of the cost of living crisis.
Followed by Shanthini of Migrant Advocacy Service, she talked about the challenges that Hong Kongers in Kingston are commonly facing on house renting and purchase. Despite many Hong Kongers joining the welcoming activities and volunteering to serve the community, Shanthini noted that some are reluctant to seek help even they may face financial difficulties, because of their hard working culture and misunderstanding about accessing help from churches and other organisations could be treated as accessing public funds, which BN(O) visa holders have no access to.
Last but not least, Mina of UKHK, Welcome churches (UKHK) shared insights in the areas of employment, household income and housing from the UKHK Survey 2022, which was published in October. She reminded that issues on buying property could be challenging to Hong Kongers because of the language barrier and lack of relevant information/knowledge. She also pointed out that back in July this year when the cost of living crisis was less serious, many Hong Kongers had already shared the worries about the cost of living in the survey.
Various welcoming groups across the country attended the forum and shared their views. On housing, many noticed that Hong Kongers had to pay a 6-month or 1-year upfront rental fee when renting a property. The group agreed that this may put the Hong Kong tenants in an unfavourable position when issues such as property maintenance arise.
On cost of living, the group shared the concern that Hong Kongers may not know they are eligible to apply for change of conditions of leave to allow access to public funds if they become destitute. Overall, it is necessary to ensure quality information can come through the Hong Kongers community to best assist them tackling the housing and cost of living concerns.