Social Impact Assessment of Transitional Social Housing and Service Interventions for Low-Income Families: The Case of Hong Kong

Siu-Ming Chan (), Hung Wong, Yuen-Ki Tang and Shen-Nan Li
Additional contact information
Siu-Ming Chan: Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
Hung Wong: Department of Social Work, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
Yuen-Ki Tang: Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
Shen-Nan Li: Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 15, 1-15

Abstract: Hong Kong is a typical global city with growing levels of substandard housing and a reduction in basic living quality. The government implemented a policy of transitional social housing (TSH) in 2018 to enhance the livelihood of low-income families. Nam Cheong 220 (NC220) is the first structural steel TSH project in Hong Kong. This study aims to evaluate the social impact and effectiveness of the project, and quantitative data were collected from individuals in three stages between 2020 and 2022. The first stage (T0) involved interviewing 106 successful applicants of NC220, followed by 91 participants in the second stage (T1) and 88 in the third stage (T2). Longitudinal analysis was implemented to scrutinize the changes observed over time, namely that the living area per capita substantially increased and housing expenses per capita decreased significantly due to residents’ relocation to NC220. Housing conditions and community problems also showed significant improvement. Living satisfaction, neighbour and family relationships also demonstrated positive changes. The most difficult issue for residents was finding suitable housing after staying at NC220. The findings reveal that the first TSH in Hong Kong as an intervention significantly improved the housing circumstances of residents. The social dimensions of housing for enhancing residents’ well-being is worth additional attention.

Keywords: transitional social housing; subdivided units (SDUs); social impact assessment; poverty; Hong Kong (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/15/12061/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/15/12061/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:15:p:12061-:d:1211939

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().