The Home Ownership Scheme (HOS; Chinese: 居者有其屋計劃) is a subsidized-sale programme of public housing in Hong Kong managed by the Hong Kong Housing Authority. It was instituted in the 1970s as part of the government policy for public housing, to give the poor a chance to purchase as well as rent public housing from the government.
Under the scheme, the government sells apartment flats to eligible low-income residents at prices far below the overall market, with discounts usually between 30 and 40 percent, and also provides subsidies on the land value. It restricts reselling of the units in the second-hand market to low-income residents. For certain projects, the Housing Authority entered into arrangements with local private developers to provide property for sale under the Private Sector Participation Scheme (PSPS).
Between 1995 and 2000, the government also offered the Sandwich Class Housing Scheme for lower middle class families whose incomes exceeded the Home Ownership Scheme requirements, but still had trouble affording private housing. In 2003, falling real estate values led the government to pause the construction of new Home Ownership Scheme estates indefinitely, although the scheme remains in force at existing estates.
Read more about Home Ownership Scheme: History, Short Piling, Resale, Hung Hom Peninsula Controversy
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