Ruling relieves govt of millions of payments to welfare recipients

The Court of Appeal ruled on Thursday that welfare recipients are not eligible for rebates intended to provide rent relief for occupants to public rental housing (PRH) units. The court ruled the Social Welfare Department had always paid the rent for welfare recipients as need-based grants.

The ruling, in favor of the Social Welfare Department, possibly saved the government millions of dollars in rebates that would have gone to welfare recipients, had the woman's petition succeeded. In the present case, the claimant had already received the rebate of HK$2,397. The government has not decided whether it will attempt to recover the money.

The claimant, Tang Yee-yu, was both a PRH flat tenant and a recipient of Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) when rates for PRH were reduced in 2002 and PRH rent waived in 2007. Social Welfare Department had retained the savings from both measures.

The petitioner initiated proceedings at the Small Claims Tribunal in 2007 seeking a rebate from the Social Welfare Department, amounting to HK$2,397. She claimed any rent reduction should not result in cutbacks of rent subsidies under CSSA. The case was brought to the High Court after the tribunal dismissed her claims.

Judge David Yam Yee-kwan of the Court of First Instance ruled in favour of Tang in September 2010, finding the rent relief was intended to benefit tenants and not "those who pay for the tenants". The Social Welfare Department filed an appeal thereafter.

On Thursday, the three-judge-panel of the Court of Appeal unanimously overturned the previous ruling.

Chief Judge Andrew Cheung Kui-nung stated in the judgment that the rent and rates of the PRH flat had been paid by the Social Welfare Department directly to the housing authority as a form of need-based grant - money which Tang could not have used for any other purpose.

Tang's argument that she had not benefited from the measures was also dismissed, on grounds that she had always enjoyed free accommodation regardless of the rental rates.

The amount of the rebate had already been deposited to Tang's bank account after she won the case last year. The Social Welfare Department welcomed the judgment handed down on Thursday, adding it would consider Tang's circumstances before deciding whether to recover the rebated money.

The Alliance of Defending Grassroots Housing Rights backed Tang's position without involving itself in the proceeding. Alliance member Ng Kin-wing said he respected the court's ruling, but there are more pressing problems for policymakers to think about.

"If structural poverty is here to stay, we don't think temporary measures will make the difference to those most in need. Otherwise we won't see so many seniors collecting trash paper and soda cans for a living." He said.

kahon@chinadailyhk.com

China Daily

(HK Edition 12/23/2011 page1)