Housing schemes to help foster harmonious families in public rental housing are now open for application, the Housing Authority says.

The measures include enhanced arrangements on the addition policy and transfer scheme, amalgamation of tenancies for tenants, and enhancing the existing priority schemes for public rental housing application.

To facilitate the Government policy of 'ageing in place' for the elderly, the addition policy for public rental housing tenants is relaxed to include elderly tenants' adult offspring, and their family members.

The whole household must undergo the comprehensive means test pitched at the level of the housing subsidy policy and domestic property test, according to the current policy on addition.

The enhanced transfer scheme enables the elderly who are living in public housing in a different District Council district from their young offspring to live nearer to each other within the same district to facilitate mutual care of the two generations.

Up to 1,000 flats mainly in urban and extended urban districts have been set aside for the scheme for this fiscal year. Applications for transfer under this scheme should reach the Housing Department by November 9.

The existing scheme on amalgamation of tenancies has been modified to help younger families in public rental housing to take care of their elderly parents or dependent relatives.

The amalgamated household can go to any district and be offered new flats if they so choose, subject to the availability of resources. The younger household must undertake to take care of and live with the elderly. They will not need to undergo the comprehensive means test nor domestic property test.

Waiting time shortened

Minimum waiting time for both the Families with Elderly Persons Priority Scheme and Special Scheme for Families with Elderly Persons has been shortened from two years to 18 months - shorter than the average waiting time of general applicants for a flat in the urban or extended urban districts by at least seven months.

For the Special Scheme for Families with Elderly Persons, the authority has relaxed the restriction in the choice of district from only the New Territories to any districts except urban ones.