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Hong Kong "cage home" rents soar above luxury flat
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Rating: 0 user(s) have rated this article
Posted by: westo,
on 6/7/2010,
in category "Relaxation"
Views: this article has been read 463 times
Abstract: Apart from Animals, only a few people would believe that human beings actually live in cages, not for any reason.
More and more of the city’s blue collar
workers live in structures like these,
which are “essentially bunkbeds that are
sealed off with cage wire so that people
can lock them when they aren’t there.
They are the size of a single bed and are
about 4 feet tall for each ‘unit’.” Bathrooms
are shared with everyone else, and in
the buildings itself, which are old
tenement flats, live around 1,000 people.
Apart from Animals, only a few people would believe that human beings actually live in cages, not for any reason. With Hong Kong property prices soaring and urban redevelopment shrinking the supply of older, cheaper tenement blocks, thousands of cage men living in 15-square-foot cubicles, usually crammed eight to a room, are being squeezed even more as renting one cage home in Hong Kong now costs about $167 (N25, 050) a month. On a square-foot basis, such rents exceed those of some mansions in Hong Kong's exclusive Peak district where many local tycoons reside.
While the financial hub of Hong Kong enjoys a reputation as one of Asia's most affluent cities, its wealth gap is among the worst in Asia, with around 100,000 of the city's 7 million people living in tiny units of less than 60 square feet and according to local sources, the government doesn't really have a perspective for helping these people despite calls to build more public housing and to ban such cage home dwellings.
The Peak Tower Hong Kong: A Picture of affluence
and wealth in the city
Hong Kong's government says that public housing is available with an average waiting time of 1.9 years for general family applicants and 1.2 years for the elderly. There is also short-term assistance available for people who need housing immediately. "People choose to live in bed space apartments and cubicles probably because these apartments are mostly conveniently located in the urban areas," said a government spokesman.
Hong Kong property prices soared by nearly 30% on average last year, and has been up nearly 8% in 2010 as money has flooded into Hong Kong, especially from mainland Chinese buyers. Recently, a plot of luxury Hong Kong land went for a record price at auction.
Lee Shau-kee, an 82-year-old tycoon who controls blue-chip property player Henderson Land Development Co., paid US$233 million for the site.The price was above market expectations and a record high for a Hong Kong auction of luxury residential land.
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