At the end of March public rental housing average waiting time for general applicants was 3.9 years, while that for elderly one-person applicants was 2.3 years.
The Housing Authority made the statement today in response to media enquiries, saying there were 150,500 general applications for public housing.
The Government said the waiting time may vary from the three-year target due to rising applications and tight public housing supply.
It said the authority will strive to achieve the target of providing the first-flat offer to general applicants at around three years on average in the long run, and will work towards identifying more land for public housing developments and expediting public housing production.
The Government has adopted 460,000 units as the long term housing supply target for the 10-year period from 2016-17 to 2025-26, of which 60% will be public housing comprising 200,000 public rental housing units and 80,000 subsidised sale flats.
The Government will continue to adopt a multi-pronged approach to increase housing land supply in the short, medium to long term to help meet demand for housing land.
The authority will work with government departments to identify suitable sites for development, including increasing the development intensity of developed areas, rezoning existing land and developing new development areas.
