Treating the Symptoms - A Critical Review of ... - Civic Exchange

RehabilitationRehabilitation is an important aspect of urban renewal. It can extend the lifetime ofexisting buildings, reduce the need for redevelopment, reduce the amount of constructionwaste going into landfills, raise property values, preserve the character of neighbourhoods,and enable residents to stay in their buildings if they wish.It has not been a high priority for the URA. Its rehabilitation programmes began in 2003,and by 2009, it reported that it had rehabilitated some 490 buildings at a cost of HK$240million in total. 196 This is a tiny fraction of the URA’s total expenditure. While the URA doesnot release financial information for individual projects, its annual reports give some basisfor comparison with the overall scale of its operations. In 2007-08, its revenues amountedto HK$5.3 billion, with direct costs of HK$2.3 billion dollars, which together with otheroperating expenses, left a surplus of about HK$2.1 billion. Its administrative expenses for2007-2008 alone were HK$238 million, a figure comparable to the total amount spent onrehabilitation since 2004. 197107Additionally, its rehabilitation programmes are limited in scope, focusing only on basicbuilding maintenance. The URA has yet to consider environmental retrofitting, such asenergy efficiency, water conservation, solar microgeneration, or green roofs.The URA’s rehabilitation programmes come in the form of small loans and grants. Theirvalue is generally capped at HK$100,000 to HK$150,000, and most loans are significantlysmaller. There are five programmes overall, including a building materials incentive scheme,an interest-free loan scheme for building repairs, small hardship grants of up to HK$10,000for households in financial difficulty, subsidies for third party liability insurance, and apreferential mortgage scheme run in cooperation with 17 banks. (The mortgage schemewas discussed in Part II.) The URA also offers technical and legal advice to participatinghouseholds.The reach of the URA’s programmes is limited by their eligibility requirements. Theschemes only operate inside its nine target areas and are open only to buildings with owners’corporations, which excludes the majority of private buildings in Hong Kong (see PartII). 198 The Buildings Department and the non-profit Housing Society also have their ownprogrammes, which are less constrained by eligibility requirements. 199 In February 2009,the Financial Secretary also announced a special one-off building rehabilitation programmecalled “Operation Building Bright” aimed at repairing 1,000 dilapidated buildings at the costof HK$1 billion (HK$150 million of which will come from the URA) over two years. Thisprogramme will be administered by the URA within its target areas and by the BuildingsDepartment elsewhere. 200