The undesirable effect of public housing on poverty concentration has been recognised by a series of studies that use census-tract-level aggregate data. This paper examines whether the poverty concentration mechanism of public housing that has been observed elsewhere also functions in Hong Kong. Hong Kong has one of the largest supplies of public housing in the world and also a distinct urban environment. After assessing the poverty rates in Hong Kong in 1991 and 2001, we build a series of regression models to examine the impact of public rental housing on poverty concentration during the 1990s. Using aggregated census tract-level data, the analysis concludes that public housing does not necessarily concentrate poverty in particular census tracts. Public policy and city planning by the Hong Kong government are found to be effective in avoiding or reducing the possible adverse effect of public housing by maintaining social heterogeneity and spatial homogeneity.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Alex-Assensoh, Y. ( 1995) Myths about race and the underclass: concentrated poverty and ‘underclass’ behaviors, Urban Affairs Review , 31, pp. 3-19.
2.
Carter, W.H., Schill, M.H. and Wachter, S.M. ( 1998) Polarisation, public housing, and racial minorities in US cities, Urban Studies, 35, pp. 1889-1991.
3.
Census and Statistics Department (1991) Hong Kong 1991 population census: basic tables for tertiary planning units. Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong.
4.
Census and Statistics Department (2002) Hong Kong 2001 population census: basic tables for tertiary planning units. Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong.
5.
Chan, C.K. ( 1996) A study of the relationship between housing tenure and social division in Hong Kong. MPhil thesis, the University of Hong Kong.
6.
Chang, K.T. ( 2006) Introduction to Geographic Information Systems, 3rd edn. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
7.
Dangschat, J.S. ( 1994) Concentration of poverty in the landscapes of ‘boomtown’ Hamburg: the creation of a new urban underclass?, Urban Studies , 31(7), pp. 1133-1147.
8.
Eastern Express (1996) 21 May (http://www.fstb.gov.hk/tb/acnbt/english/otherdoc/finalrptask.pdf ).
9.
Fong, K.W. and Yeh, G.O. ( 1987) Hong Kong, in: S. K. Ha (Ed.) Housing Policy and Practice in Asia, pp. 12-47. New York: Croom Helm.
10.
Forrest, R., Grange, A.L. and Yip, N.M. ( 2004) Hong Kong as a global city? Social distance and spatial differentiation, Urban Studies, 41(1), pp. 207-227.
11.
Freeman, L. ( 2003) The impact of assisted housing developments on concentrated poverty, Housing Policy Debate, 14, pp. 103-142.
12.
Freeman, L. and Botein, H. ( 2002) Subsidized housing and neighborhood impacts: a theoretical discussion and review of the evidence, Journal of Planning Literature, 16(3), pp. 360-378.
13.
Grange, A.L. and Pretorius, F. ( 2002) Private rental housing in Hong Kong, Housing Studies, 17(5), pp. 721-740.
14.
Greene, R. ( 1991) Poverty concentration measures and the urban underclass , Economic Geography, 67, pp. 240-252.
15.
Hays, R.A. ( 1995) The Federal Government and Urban Housing: Ideology and Change in Public Policy, 2nd edn. New York: State University of New York Press.
16.
Holloway, S.R., Bryan, D., Chabot, R. et al. (1998) Exploring the effect of public housing on the concentration of poverty in Columbus, Ohio, Urban Affairs Review, 33, pp. 767-789.
17.
Hui, C.M. and Wong, K.W. ( 2004) The Hong Kong housing authority and its financial arrangement over the past 50 years. Department of Building and Real Estate, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
18.
Jargowsky, P.A. and Bane, M.J. ( 1991) The social consequences of growing up in a poor neighborhood , in: L. E. Lynn, jr and M. G. H. McGeary (Eds) Inner City Poverty in the United States, pp. 111-186. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
19.
Kasarda, J.D. ( 1993) Inner-city concentrated poverty and neighborhood distress: 1970 to 1990, Housing Policy Debate, 4, pp. 253-302.
20.
Legislative Council Secretariat (2005) The situation of poverty in Hong Kong. Information Note No. IN22/04-05, Research and Library Services Division, Legislative Council, Hong Kong.
21.
Macpherson, S. and Chan, C.K. ( 1997) Housing and poverty in Hong Kong. Department of Public and Social Administration, City University of Hong Kong .
22.
Massey, D.S. and Eggers, M.L. ( 1990) The ecology of inequality: minorities and the concentration of poverty, 1970-1980, American Journal of Sociology, 95, pp. 1153-1188.
23.
Massey, D.S. and Kanaiaupuni, S.M. ( 1993) Public housing and the concentration of poverty, Social Science Quarterly, 74, pp. 107-121.
24.
Schill, M.H. and Wachter, S.M. ( 1995) The spatial bias of federal housing law and policy: concentrated poverty in urban America, University of Pennsylvania Law Review , 143, pp. 1285-1342.
25.
Warren-Rhodes, K. and Koenig, A. ( 2001) Ecosystem appropriation by Hong Kong and its implications for sustainable development, Ecological Economics, 39(3), pp. 347-359.
26.
Wilson, W.J. ( 1987) The Truly Disadvantaged. Chicago, IL : University of Chicago Press.
27.
Wong, C.K. and Wong, H. ( 2004) The case for an expenditure-based poverty line for the newly industrialized East Asian societies, Issues and Studies , 40(2), pp. 187-205.
28.
Wong, H. ( 2000) The poverty in Yau Tsim Mong district: poverty concentration in old urban areas and its alleviation strategy, Hong Kong Journal of Social Work, 34(1/2), pp. 27-42.
29.
Wong, H. and Choi, W.S. (1996) The study of the expenditure patterns of low-expenditure households in Hong Kong: a mid-term report. Hong Kong Council of Social Service and Oxfam.
30.
Yeung, Y.M. and Wong, K.Y. ( 2003) Fifty Years of Public Housing in Hong Kong: A Golden Jubilee Review and Appraisal. Hong Kong: Chinese University Press for the Hong Kong Housing Authority, Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies.
