Container living may be a viable temporary solution for homeless Hongkongers waiting for public housing, as reported by The South China Morning Post.
Property giant Henderson Land is said to be in informal talks with the Council of Social Service on building prefabricated container homes.
The proposed container homes would range in size from 160 to 320 square feet, which could each house two to five people, according to the NGO. Up to four containers could be stacked to form a multi-storey block, modelled on similar concepts in Europe.
The plan, by a local NGO, may be a reality as early as next year, but there are several challenges in the way. Finding land for the project is a big one. Council members have said they hoped to find one that can be leased for at least two years for temporary housing.
Secretary for Development Michael Wong Wai-lun said the government had no particular stance on building container homes. “If we identify a piece of land suitable for residential use, we have to consider whether to develop it as temporary or permanent housing,” he said. “Even if we go forward with temporary housing, there are problems relating to transport and the environment to address.”
Container homes would also have to be tailor-made for the city. “Hong Kong has more precipitation and hotter weather,” said legislator Andrew Wan Siu-kin, who recently visited Britain and the Netherlands to learn about those countries’ experiences with prefabricated housing. “So the materials for such containers must be more resistant to wear and tear by weather changes … and have better insulation. Air conditioning is also required for Hong Kong, unlike in Europe.”
Existing city building laws also does not provide for assembling prefabricated, multi-storey homes on construction sites, and legal exemptions would have to be made for the plan to go ahead. — Construction+ Online
