The Chief Executive, Mr Edmund Ho Hau Wah, said the SAR Government would achieve its target of building 19,000 public housing units by 2012 to help those in need of subsidised accommodation. Speaking at the plenary session of the Legislative Assembly, he reiterated that the Government would not cut back on its housing policy and would carry out its plans on schedule. The housing policy will be carried out in two phases. In the first phase, some 2,600 rental units will be built in 2009, with another 3,600 Home Ownership Scheme flats would be completed between six months and not more than a year later than scheduled. Mr Ho said the related departments were speeding up the progress of building public housing and that the Government had confidence to build 19,000 or even more units by the completion of the second phase, by 2012. Mr Ho also disclosed that a new scheme to subsidise newly married couples in renting their homes would be launched at the end of this year.
