When it comes to affordable housing, centrally planned governments have one big advantage over the dispersed powers and inter-govermental squabbles of more democratic political structures.
The advantage: centrally planned economies can identify problems and mobilize to fix them, not only quickly, but on a grand scale. The downside: when mistakes are made, they can be real doozies1.
The lease for the ‘city-state’ of Hong Kong expired 25 years ago. The land was reclaimed by China. Hong Kong’s government is slowly bending towards China’s centrally-planned economy.
Alas, there are no housing benefits to be reaped from its time as democratic, free-market glory. Hong Kong has been suffering from an ever-increasing affordable housing crisis. It is often suggested to be the worst in the world, with not only high rents for poorest, but apartments literally the size and shape of coffins.
How will China tackle this inherited housing dilemma? It has the capability to ‘go big’ when providing relief for Hong Kong’s poorest to ‘stay home.’ And indeed, it has finally taken just such an approach, providing hundreds of millions of dollars that housing activists in democratic societies by and large can only dream about.
What is on the current housing menu for Hong Kong? The Chinese government is providing the kind of money needed to develop truly affordable housing on a grand scale. It has also pitched the problem back into Hong Kong’s court to figure how best to spend the money and solve the problem.
Thanks to China’s commitment, those sitting in the bleacher seats of democratic society are getting one view of a possible ‘big buck’ solution. The need for money will become more and more necessary as jurisdictions everywhere realize that urban housing crises will not be solved by the budget-friendly expedient of banning tent encampments2.
So the rest of the world may get to see how big money is spent on a truly affordable housing crisis, enhanced by a running commentary of criticisms — outspoken itches that Hong Kong citizens are still inclined to scratch.
‘Light public housing’ is the proposed solution. What is it? What does it offer? Why is it being criticized? Read more at Bloomberg: Hong Kong Steps Up Efforts to Fix Housing Crisis After Xi Push
Footnotes
- Here’s an example from China, a country that has levered itself into position of world power by making productive decisions. But on the way there, it has also made some bad ones. For example, read this piece in The U.S. Sun: LEFT TO ROT Inside China’s apocalyptic ‘ghost cities’ where 65million homes lay deserted as Communist Party faces economic chaos
- See this article in the Los Angeles Times: Editorial: Yes, it really will take billions of dollars a year to solve homelessness in California
