Transitional housing: The Hong Kong homes built to move
Posted on: 11 August, 2026
By Linda Serck
Hong Kong building professional and former student Cr Sr Tang Chi Wang spoke to us about how Hong Kong is using relocatable modular homes to ease the pressure of soaring rents, overcrowded accommodation and long waits for permanent housing.
Hong Kong announces itself vertically. Towers climb the green hillsides, windows repeat in tall monolithic grids, and glimpses of the harbour shimmer between tightly packed high-rise buildings. In this densely populated, land-poor city with a famous skyscraper skyline, we also encounter long waiting lists, punishing property prices and homes scarcely larger than the beds they contain.
Flats smaller than a parking space
It is an issue close to Cr Sr Tang Chi Wang, founder and Executive Director of ADWISE Building Consultancy Limited and University of the Built Environment alumnus.
“Housing is a long-term problem in Hong Kong,” he said, speaking after becoming an Honorary Fellow at the University’s 2026 summer graduation ceremony. “There are many people, but housing prices are so high. Not many people can afford to buy a house or an apartment.”
His comment tallies with the Hong Kong government’s Rating and Valuation department July 2026 report: the average square-metre price in May for a small private apartment indicates a 35-square-metre flat – roughly the floor area of three car-parking spaces – would cost around £496,000 (HK$5.2 million) in Hong Kong Island, £467,000 (HK$4.9 million) in Kowloon, or £419,000 (HK$4.4 million) in the New Territories. Average monthly rents for the same floor area would be about HK$18,445 (about £1,760), HK$15,820 (about £1,510) and HK$12,810 (about £1,220), respectively.
For those on low incomes, the alternative may be a subdivided flat, created by dividing an apartment into several dwellings. In 2025, Hong Kong had around 110,000 such units, housing 220,000 people.
According to the government’s Housing Bureau and Planning department, some of these subdivided flats are less than eight square metres – that’s less than one car-parking space – with a median monthly rent of HK$5,000 (about £476).
Listen to our podcast: Episode 20: Modular promises, measurable impact? – University of the Built Environment
“Some people cannot afford to buy private housing, so they have to live in a subdivided flat,” Tang said. “Maybe only 10 square metres has to house three or four people.”
Hong Kong’s Basic Housing Unit regime, introduced in March 2026, recognises the serious health and safety risks of living in such confined and sometimes low-quality conditions, and has set minimum requirements covering size, height, structural and fire safety, sanitation, water, electricity and ventilation. However, these rules don’t come into force until March 2027.
Modular Integrated Construction
Against this backdrop of prohibitively expensive rents, limited living space, and years spent waiting for a permanent home, transitional housing has emerged as an increasingly important stopgap.
“In recent years, the government has been proactive in trying to solve the problem,” Tang says. “People can go into transitional housing temporarily and pay a very low rent.”
The term describes temporary, affordable rental accommodation, much of which consists of modular homes constructed using Modular Integrated Construction (MiC) on temporarily available land, and are generally operated by non-profit organisations with government support.
Hong Kong’s present transitional housing system has grown in stages. The social enterprise Light Be launched an early scheme in 2012, and the Government began supporting transitional housing in 2015. The Community Housing Movement followed in 2017, a government task force in 2018 and a dedicated funding scheme for NGO-led projects in 2020. The latter was eventually expanded to HK$11.6 billion, with a target of 20,000 homes. By the end of April 2026, more than 21,150 transitional homes had entered service, exceeding that target.
While transitional housing can span vacant flats, converted schools and other non-residential buildings, MiC is the part that most interests Tang. Room-sized modules, complete with finishes, fittings and services, are largely manufactured away from the site, then transported, stacked and connected. Examples include the large-scale Lok Sin Village in Tai Po that houses 1,236 units (pictured above) and the colourful 227-unit Ho Yuet Home project in Kowloon (main image).
“They are constructed by MiC,” he explains. “They can be taken down and rebuilt on another site. Like Lego, one by one.”
MiC ‘solves a temporary problem’
Transitional housing takes advantage of a plot of land being undeveloped for several years before any permanent building work begins. Rather than leave it fenced and idle, an NGO can operate temporary homes there, often with government construction funding. Planning arrangements allow qualifying transitional housing schemes to occupy certain sites temporarily for five years or less. When the land is required, modules designed for disassembly can be moved.
“Different sites have different zoning,” Tang says. “Some are for residential use, some for offices and some for government, institutional or community use. A site may not be planned for housing permanently, but policy can allow it to be used temporarily to help solve the housing problem.
“After five years, they may review the land use, dismantle the MiC units and construct them on another site.”
Other benefits include the rent varying according to tenants’ circumstances rather than being charged at a single fixed rate, and assembly to a resident moving in can take less than a year. Also, larger developments like United Court in Yuen Long has place-making features including a playground, fitness facilities, communal laundry and small shop. Finally, eligibility has traditionally prioritised people waiting at least three years for public rental housing, although the rules now allow places to be allocated to other households with pressing needs.
“It is a good idea, at least to solve a temporary problem,” Tang said.
Build smarter, not higher
Hong Kong is not alone in exploring relocatable modular housing. Variations of the model are already being used in countries including New Zealand, the Netherlands and the UK, although the purpose, scale and systems of support differ.
What distinguishes Hong Kong’s approach is how it has been applied within its extreme land constraints and offers a lesson for other crowded cities. For a city with a default of building upwards, transitional housing introduces another possibility. Rather than build higher, a city can build faster, use land more intelligently and allow the homes themselves to move.
Explore UBE’s flexible built environment courses, including programmes in construction, real estate, surveying and urban planning:
