Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung chaired the ninth meeting of the third-term Commission on Poverty today, in which two new assistance programmes under the Community Care Fund were endorsed.

The commission agreed to launch a programme to assist the Hong Kong Housing Society to refurbish Trackside Villas of the Mass Transit Railway Corporation for "T-Home" transitional housing.

The refurbishment is estimated to commence in the second quarter of 2020 in phases and refurbished flats will be available for intake in the third quarter of 2020 at the earliest.

With a total funding of $45.94 million, it is expected to provide at most 252 units and benefit 1,120 people.

The commission also endorsed the rollout of the One-off Living Subsidy for Low-income Households Not Living in Public Housing & Not Receiving CSSA programme again in January 2021.

The total funding for the programme is $1,447.73 million and it is expected to benefit 137,150 households or about 353,600 people.

At the meeting, the Transport & Housing Bureau briefed commission members on the work of the Task Force on Transitional Housing, the current situation and the way forward for transitional housing projects.

The commission supported the initiative and gave views on the future developments of transitional housing projects.

Other bureaus also briefed commission members on the new initiatives to benefit people's livelihood announced by the Chief Executive last week.

The members noted the Government's efforts to respond to the aspirations of the grass roots and the underprivileged and expressed their views on the new initiatives.

Meanwhile, the commission approved the introduction of the Dinutuximab Beta drug for the treatment of neuroblastoma to the Subsidy for Eligible Patients to Purchase Ultra-expensive Drugs (Including Those for Treating Uncommon Disorders) Programme.

It also approved three Community Care Fund medical assistance programmes’ indicative budget for 2020-21 with an overall amount of $986.95 million.