Living subsidy applications to open

June 29, 2020

Community Care Fund Task Force Chairperson Dr Law Chi-kwong：
At the time we proposed this item for the approval of the Commission on Poverty, we based it on statistics we had at that time to estimate the number of households that would be eligible.

It is indeed possible that, because of the economic downturn, there can be more households which have become eligible. That is possible. If that is the case, we will know the situation very quickly and if there is any need for increasing the budget, we will go back to the Commission on Poverty to deal with it. 

Two months is the time that we pledged to be able to provide most of the subsidy. For some of the applicants, particularly in the first batch - the single-person households, it is very likely some of them will receive the subsidy in late August.

(To watch the full press briefing with sign language interpretation, click here.)

The Community Care Fund (CCF) will launch the first round of the One-off Living Subsidy for Low-income Households Not Living in Public Housing & Not Receiving Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) programme on July 2.

Secretary for Labour & Welfare Dr Law Chi-kwong, who is also the CCF Task Force Chairperson, today noted the CCF has set aside around $1.118 billion to implement the programme, which will benefit about 105,500 households or about 272,000 people.

Dr Law said: "At the time we proposed this item for the approval of the Commission on Poverty, we based it on statistics we had at that time to estimate the number of households that would be eligible.

"It is indeed possible that, because of the economic downturn, there can be more households which have become eligible. That is possible. If that is the case, we will know the situation very quickly and if there is any need for increasing the budget, we will go back to the Commission on Poverty to deal with it."

The programme is administered by the CCF Secretariat, with over 200 service units operated by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to accept and carry out the initial processing of applications.

Beneficiaries should currently be renting accommodation on a monthly basis or for longer tenures in private housing, industrial buildings, commercial buildings or social housing operated by NGOs.

They also include people renting bedspaces offered under the Home Affairs Department's Singleton Hostel Programme or bedspaces in hostels operated by NGOs for rehabilitated offenders; residing in temporary housing; living on vessels; or who are homeless.

Their monthly income must not exceed the specified limits and they should not be receiving CSSA or own any property in Hong Kong.

The CCF Secretariat will accept applications from eligible households in phases. One-person households can apply from July 2, two-person households from August 3, three-person households from September 1, while all households irrespective of their size can submit applications from October 5.

Applications will last until November 30.

Click here for details.