The second home

The first publicly funded Community Living Room project went into service at 188 Fuk Wah Street, Sham Shui Po, on Dec 18. The 8,000-sq-ft facility, provided by property developer Sino Group, has kitchens, laundries, shower rooms and shared spaces for dining, studying and playing, with priority given to tenants of subdivided flats. The government allocated HK$25 million from the Community Care Fund to support the facility's operation for the first three years, while the Lok Sin Tong Benevolent Society Kowloon - a local charitable organization - is in charge of its operation.

To qualify for a community living room, a tenant must meet three criteria - having lived in a subdivided unit in the same district; a household income of less than 75 percent of the local median household income (HK$30,000 monthly in 2023); and at least one member of the household being a permanent Hong Kong resident. On Feb 9, the eve of Lunar New Year, a banquet of poon choi - a traditional Hong Kong dish with bamboo shoots, pork, seafood and other delicacies in a pot - was held at the facility, and tenants of subdivided flats in Sham Shui Po were invited to celebrate the occasion together.

Zhang took her two sons to the banquet and saw the community living room for the first time. The facility has a large dining room where the banquet was held, with 10 tables, two big-screen televisions and six floor-to-ceiling windows. If the weather is fine, ample sunshine lights up the 800-sq-ft dining area.

"Most subdivided flats don't have windows and, to them, having some sunshine is a luxury. In designing the facility, we suggested having windows to allow tenants some rays of the sun," says Alvin Chui, who's in charge of the facility, which also provides discounted nutritious meals for children at HK$10 each. Free meals are occasionally handed out on weekends.