Elderly Hongkongers facing eviction over subdivided flat revamp fear upended lives

Some elderly residents facing eviction from a block of subdivided flats in Hong Kong have expressed concerns that they could lose their jobs if forced to relocate to enable their landlords to upgrade the homes to comply with new regulations.Residents of Sham Shui Po’s Yee Wa Building were previously told they would need to leave sometime between March and December.The renovations were prompted by a clampdown on substandard housing that is set to take effect in March. Landlords who immediately registered their properties with the government will have until February 2030 to comply with the new specifications.The Housing Bureau earlier this week said that it had contacted 109 households at the building on Un Chau Street, with 72 of them expressing a need for transitional housing.The rest were considering applying for such housing or had already found alternative accommodation, it said.While the bureau pledged to process their applications as soon as possible, the Hong Kong Single Parents Association, a group assigned to help the residents, said most of the transitional housing currently available was located in Tai Po and Yuen Long.