Urban nomad, the life of ethnic minorities tenants in old city district of Hong Kong

by Kelvin Wu

Every year, a small group of beja people roam across the Sahara desert to search for fresh pastures for their livestock.  They live a nomadic life, a way of living that reject a settled home, and rely on the principle of being mobile and the ability to move from one place to another in search for a suitable place and environment for living. Thousands of miles away, a group of low income ethnic minorities in Hong Kong seem to share the same fate as they wander around the old city centre of Hong Kong once in a while, moving from places to places in search for accommodation. However, unlike the beja people, their mobile life is not their tradition nor choice. Instead, it is a result of constant eviction and the disobliging rentincrease.
Bital is 20 year-old student of Pakistani ethnicity. Together with his parent and brother,  he lives in subdivided room of less than 50 feet squad inside “tong lau” in the area of tai kok tsui, west of the busy commercial area of Mong Kok. In one of these typical elevator-less tenement buildings, it is common for landlord to divide apartment into small room units. Their common motivation is simple: the more people to put in one place, the more profit they get.

A Pakistani old friend of Bital’s father also rents a room in the same house, who offers timely assistance to the family, especially when Bital’s aging father is suffering from leg illness which has now put him out of work. Together the two families appropriate some part of the scarce public space for the father, installing a small bed and a television which receive broadcast from Pakistan.

For many ethnic minority families like Bital’s, the exorbitant rental market Hong Kong has rejected most of them comfortable and spacious housing. High rent and low income leave them not much choices but to take up subdivided rooms, withstanding the poor living condition if they want to stay within the city centre for work and social network. Still, these families are vulnerable as they face constant pressure on rent increase and eviction from landlords.

A few weeks ago on a causal morning, Bital received a call from his landlord who asks his family to leave the flat. “He told me to leave the place before early next month, because the place will be redeveloped soon.” However discouraging the call was, it had hardly surprised Bital, because his family has been receiving similar calls for the last 10 years.

Since 2004, the family has not been settled in one place for more than 3 years. They move from Sham Shui Po to Mong Kok, from Yau Mei Tei, to their current place in Tai Kok Tsui, all within this part of Kowloon. “Sometime it is the landlord who terminates our tenancy. More often, they increased the rent so high that we cannot afford it and have to leave. Last time when we were in Yau Ma Tei, the landlord increased the rent from 4000 to 8000 HKD. The increase is so high that we have to come to this new flat in Tai Kok Tsui.” Bital recalls this fresh memory.

Compares to other cosmopolitan cities, the protection for tenants’ right in Hong Kong is limited if not totally perished. Many laws that protect tenant were cancelled in 2004 by the government and legislative council who at the time shared a devout belief in an economic revival through deregulation on property market.

Previously, tenants were guaranteed the right to live undisturbed once they show their willingness to stay and ability to pay rent. The landlords were required to provide evidence to explain their urgent need for their properties if they want to ask the tenants out. Reasons that were accepted were restricted to only a few circumstances such as redevelopment or housing need for owner or owner’s family. Rent control was implemented before 1998, where the government yearly established an acceptable range for rent increase with reference to cost of living and market rate.

The situation has turned quite to the opposite after these changes.  Landlord can now freely retrieve the property once the tenant is notified at least one month in advance or raise rent without any restriction on the range.  This created the backdrop for the nomadic life of low income families for the last decade.

Despite the long experience on eviction, the notice from landlord still leaves Bital’s family in huge detriment. Not only do they have to search for a new home, such task is now becoming more laborious and difficult. The area of Ta Kok Chui has become a locus for many urban redevelopment projects. They greatly transformed the city landscape, as well as its community. Old building now paved the road for lucrative apartments, which limits the options for cheap housing and boost up the rent of those remains.

What makes matter worse, Bital’s family background always subjects to unwanted discrimination. “ Landlords don’t like families who have low and unstable income. They think they will not pay their rent on time, so they tend not to rent to us because we are enduring financial hardship. Also, we need to try to find flat from lower floors, because my father is not good at walking up. Always, if it wasn’t because of the help of family friends, it would be much harder to find landlord that will accept us.” Bital said.

With rental market reach another historical height this year, Hong Kong government still have no plan to bring back rent control and offer more protection for tenants. In the latest Long Term Housing Strategy, which will set housing policies in Hong Kong for the next 10 years, government refused the options to bring back any laws that were cancelled in 2004, claiming that such measures would disrupt the rental market when landlords would refuse to rent out their house or set up sky-high rent which drive out lower income families.

The Secretary for Transport and Housing Anthony Cheung, who is leading the committee for Long Term Housing Strategy, comments that government decision for not installing rent control and offering more landlords’ restrictions are the consideration for the benefit of ethnic minorities in Hong Kong.  He warns that similar measures would encourage landlords to censor their renters, who would eventually discriminate against ethnic minority families.

On a weekday’s afternoon, a group of Pakistani women gathered in a community centre in Yau Ma Tei, attending a talk during which social workers, volunteers and a Urdo translator slowly explained the legal process of eviction and some useful practices for tenants.

“Remember to store all the documents such as electric bill, contract, medical record or even school handbook that can prove your tenancy and your living at your flat. Remember to take picture of all the notices posted on the wall or at your door. If you can’t read them, send the picture to people and friends whom can understand.” explained the volunteer, who have seen numerous cases where landlords make use of the fear of their ill-informed tenants of ethnic minority background, when some of them cannot read both Chinese and English and could not notice anything happen in the neighborhood.

Seeing no major structural change from the government, and that many ethnic minorities’ nomadic lives will continue for the minimal 10 years, some activists and social workers now turns to those affected, promoting tenants’ right among ethnic minorities living in old city district.

“If eviction comes, all landlords should give you a notification that you can understand, verbally or in paper. No landlord can enter your home without your permission. They cannot remove all your belonging in your house. They have to go through a legal process, even to court.” These reminders are new and unfamiliar to most the participants. For most of them, staying in rooftop houses, temporal structure subdivided housing do not guarantee a stable living; a feeling out of their own experience.

“It is impossible for my family to find another house with so little time and so high rent. Is there any way that I can stay and reject landlord eviction?” One lady raised her hand. Volunteers turned to a slogan written on the board, which said: tenants policy in Hong Kong discriminate the poor, stay united and solidarity!