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My Christmas wish: give young people hope

A gist of the blog:

Last Saturday, I invited some 30 children from grassroots families living in Sham Shui Po to my residence for a Christmas party. I shared with them my upbringing and encouraged them to be resilient and to strive for their own and their families’ future.

The existing high property prices and rental costs in Hong Kong have heightened the burden of Hong Kong people, and also hindered the development of different industries and the opportunities of the young generation in starting their businesses. Facing the relatively slow-growing salaries and the long working hours, some young people may become frustrated with their prospect in the future.

As a matter of fact, Hong Kong is not only facing shortage in residential land, but also in land for office, industrial use, creative activities as well as elderly care homes. The Government is sparing no effort in increasing land supply and has adopted a multi-pronged approach in tackling the problem. I hope we would not approach the matter of housing and land supply as a “zero-sum game” and put too much focus on specific land supply proposal or the use of an individual piece of land. We must endeavour to increase the land supply for different uses in a holistic and comprehensive manner, in order to fully meet the various development needs of our society.

December 24, 2017