Press Release

Housing Society Celebrates its 75th Anniversary
with the Commitment of Creating Homes for Sustainable Living

The Hong Kong Housing Society (HKHS) hosted a cocktail reception at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai today (17 April) to celebrate its 75th Anniversary.  Secretary for Housing of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government Winnie Ho and HKHS Chairman Walter Chan officiated at the ceremony.  Since its inception in 1948, HKHS has moved forward with an innovative mind and played the role of a ‘housing laboratory’ to help address the housing needs of the Hong Kong people. Looking ahead, HKHS will continue to uphold its social mission to create quality homes for sustainable living.

Among the officiating guests were Deputy Director-General of the Department of Urban Development, Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, People’s Republic of China Liu Lifeng; Deputy Director-General of the Department of Educational, Scientific and Technological Affairs of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the HKSAR Ye Shuiqiu; HKHS Vice-Chairman Ling Kar-kan; five Former Chairmen of HKHS including Terence Tai, Dr Chung Shui-ming, David C Lee, Yeung Ka-sing and Marco Wu, together with Former Executive Director, Victor So, Former Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director Wong Lai-chun and Wong Kit-loong, and current Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director James Chan.  Some 500 guests, including government officials, Members of the Executive Council and the Legislative Council, District Councilors, HKHS’s business partners, representatives of the architectural, surveying, planning and landscape sector and academia, attended the event to celebrate the new horizons of HKHS.

Officiating at the cocktail reception, Secretary for Housing Winnie Ho said, “The Housing Society is an important long-term partner of the Government, providing high quality housing for the public.  It is also an invaluable member to the housing development in Hong Kong.  It has used creative thinking, and in cooperation with the Government, to provide various types of housing to meet the needs of different classes of society.  Being a ‘housing laboratory’, the Housing Society has developed from providing initially rental housing estates to now offering different types of housing.  We can all see the positive contribution of the Housing Society in the past 75 years.  Looking ahead, I hope the Housing Society will continue to work with the Government, together, to ‘Build a liveable and inclusive society’.”

At the cocktail reception, HKHS Chairman Walter Chan thanked the Government and community stakeholders for their support to HKHS over the past 75 years.  He said, “Since its establishment, the Housing Society has progressed with the times, staying innovative and resilient.  A hundred housing projects have been developed to date, including rental estates, subsidised sale flats in different decades, and elderly housing developed since the 2000s, creating liveable homes for hundreds of thousands of people.  We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to the Government and various stakeholders for their unfailing support and valuable advices over the years, which have contributed to the rewarding journey of the Housing Society over the 75 years.  This year, the Housing Society has organised a series of celebration activities under the theme of ‘Creating Homes for Sustainable Living’ to share the joy of Diamond Jubilee with our residents and the general public.”

Walter Chan continued, “As a ‘housing laboratory’, the Housing Society is planning and developing 25 projects, providing more than 45,000 housing units in the next 20 years, with around 35,000 units slated for completion in ten years’ time.  This is an unprecedented production peak in the Housing Society’s 75-year history, symbolising the new horizons of the Housing Society’s future development.  The Housing Society will continue to be visionary and innovative in exploring new possibilities for more housing solutions for Hong Kong, providing more quality housing and services, as well as creating homes for sustainable living.”

The cocktail reception also featured a Roving Exhibition on HKHS’s 75th Anniversary, highlighting HKHS’s various housing projects and work, photos and videos of historical significance.  With its debut at the event, the exhibition will later tour across the territory.  In addition, a specially composed theme song was produced to mark the 75th Anniversary, featuring members of the management team and colleagues of different roles.  The theme song premiered at the cocktail reception, reinforcing HKHS’s commitment of walking shoulders to shoulders with the community over the past 75 years. 

Each attending guest of the cocktail reception was presented with a HKHS 75th Anniversary limited edition souvenir set, including a Storybook with 75 stories of HKHS and a set of commemorative stamps for readers to review the past of HKHS, witness its dynamic and innovative present, and look forward to building a brighter future together.

HKHS also held the International Conference 2023 with the theme of “A Vision for the Future: Liveable Communities for Sustainable Living of Multi-Generations” on the same day. The ceremony was officiated by Deputy Financial Secretary of the HKSAR Government Michael Wong. 

The conference was attended by a number of guest speakers with extensive experience in the areas of intergenerational community, smart and liveable communities, and the environmental, social and governance (ESG).  They shared their experience and insights on how these aspects could create value for housing.  Guest speakers included Liu Lifeng, Deputy Director-General, Department of Urban Development, Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, People’s Republic of China; Tan Meng Dui, Chief Executive Officer, Housing and Development Board, Singapore; Kevin Mcgeough, Director of Ebbsfleet Healthy New Town Programme, United Kingdom and Winnie Ho, Secretary for Housing, HKSAR Government.  The conference was attended by over 500 participants, including experts in the fields of housing construction, community transformation, sustainable development and elderly services from local, Mainland China and overseas.

A series of 75th Anniversary activities has been rolled out by HKHS progressively during the year, including the “Art in Estates” Visual Arts Programme at its 20 rental estates, where residents and six artists worked together to beautify the public space of the estates with environmentally friendly or upcycled materials.  In addition, a Community ESG Programme will be launched to engage HKHS staff and residents from more than 30,000 rental estate families to reduce carbon emissions. 

For more details of HKHS’s 75th Anniversary celebrations, please visit the following link: https://www.hkhs.com/en/about-us/75th-anniversary.