Could You Live In A Zoo? Hong Kong's Cage Dwellers

[BeyondGeography]

This was filmed in 2009, but the problems described have only gotten worse. The waiting list for public housing, cited as over 100K in the clip, is now 200K. Hong Kong has ranked #1 worldwide in unaffordable housing, with home prices 15X average incomes:

"It is impossible for the salary income to catch up," said Polytechnic University real estate professor Eddie Hui Chi-man.
He said property prices had surged sharply while the government "didn't increase the land supply" and only resumed the Home Ownership Scheme for flats in October 2011, after it was suspended for nine years. In 2012, property prices jumped more than 20 per cent.
Hui believes the housing problem will remain serious over the next two years as new housing supply will not increase significantly until 2016.
http://www.scmp.com/property/hong-kong-china/article/1410730/hong-kong-ranks-worlds-no-1-most-unaffordable-housing?page=all

[PeoViejo]

1. In the US, they're called Private Prisons.

[yeoman6987]

2. I have been to Hong Kong

It cannot grow space. I wonder how the population has grown over the years. You cannot support the population on a small plot of land. Meanwhile in China they are building huge cities with conveniences that nobody has wanted to live. Purchase try to sell to some on the island of Hong Kong for a good price. There are ways around everything to make everyone happy.

[BeyondGeography]

3. It's 286 square miles

Granted, much of it is hills and mountains, but the New Territories can still support plenty more housing, even though it would be a gut wrenching transition for villages that are presently tranquil and even pastoral. This was the British new town strategy in the 70s and 80s when places like Sha Tin were created.

Also, the lack of space hasn't slowed down the high end, for which harbor land is constantly reclaimed for posh new towers. I'm talking about places on Kowloon side that are pretty far out from the center of things and where no one with money would ever have considered living before. Development is skewed upwards and distorted by money.