PHOTOGRAPHY_Today Hong Kong is regarded as one of the richest cities in the world. However, lurking beneath this prosperity is great inequality in wealth and a forgotten group of poor people. Hundreds of thousands of people still live in caged homes and wood-partitioned cubicles, while the unemployed, new-arrived families from China and children in poverty struggle for survival.
Local artists were asked to create mini cage homes and residents. The installations were then placed around the city in most affluent streets. People were shocked to learn that this is a reality for many residents in Hong Kong.
About the same topic "Man in cage", a set of images by Mr. Benny Lam (a volunteer for SoCO) concerning about the inadequate housing in Hong Kong.
The families pictured are from low-income families, singletons, elderly persons and umemployed persons living at urban slums in Hong Kong, including Sham Shui Po, Tai Kok Tsui, Kwun Tong, Jordan, etc.
They have to afford a high rent rate (with rent rate around HKD$80 to 90 per square feet per month) in the city and wait for public rental housing over years because the low public housing supply in Hong Kong and the inapt allocation and eligiblity policy of public housing.
The smallest apartment is 28 square feet with size of around 4' x 7' (next picture).
The cage homes have been a running scandal in Hong Kong's housing market for decades, yet rather than disappear, they are on the rise.
The Society for Community Organization (SoCO) concerns by taking those photos of inadequate housing that the problems were uncovered and aroused the public and government concern over the issue.
SoCO was formed in 1971 by a group of clergymen and people who cared for Hong Kong’s development and campaigned for a fair and just social system. Through the promotion of civil rights and organizing affected people, they promoted respect for people’s rights and equality for all members of society.
Foto© Society for Community Organization
comment