29th October 2026 – (Hong Kong) Former Housing Secretary Winnie Ho issued a resignation statement this evening saying she was willing to take political responsibility for the Wang Fuk Court blaze, after Chief Executive John Lee confirmed he had accepted her offer to quit.
Mr Lee announced at today’s press conference on the independent committee’s report into the Tai Po No. 5 alarm fire that Ms Ho had tendered her resignation yesterday and that he had relieved her of her duties with immediate effect. In her statement she wrote: “I am willing, as Secretary for Housing, to take political responsibility for the Wang Fuk Court fire.” She added: “I hope the deceased may rest in peace, and that families can move forward and leave their grief behind.” She noted that Mr Lee had already accepted her resignation for that political accountability.
Turning to the large reform package the administration is about to roll out, Ms Ho said the government had not shied away from the heart of the Wang Fuk Court problem and had shown great resolve in shouldering an issue that is wide, deep, complex and long accumulated. “I firmly believe united government effort can bring thorough change, making our city safer and more secure,” she said.
Looking back to 1st July 2022, she said she and the Housing Bureau team had fought side by side to tackle Hong Kong’s entrenched housing difficulties — speeding up Light Public Housing, shortening the public rental queue, building a Basic Housing Units regime, tackling poor subdivided flats, cracking down on public-housing abuse and advancing construction technology. Serving a city she deeply loves for more than four years, she wrote, left her honoured and lifelong grateful.
She thanked the Central People’s Government, the chief executive and the wider government team for their trust and support. Under Mr Lee’s leadership, she and the governing team had faced challenges daily and served the public with all their strength, she said, urging colleagues to keep citizens’ wellbeing at the centre of their work and to take pride in belonging to the government team. She closed by encouraging Housing Bureau staff that housing touches countless households, that every link in the chain matters, and that their daily efforts form the foundation of residents’ happiness for generations to come.
Ms Ho joined the government in 1992 as an architect in the Architectural Services Department, rose to chief architect in 2009 and government architect in 2012, and became deputy director in 2018. In 2020 she succeeded Sylvia Lam Yu Ka-wai as director, overseeing Modular Integrated Construction quarantine camps, temporary hospitals and isolation facilities at Penny’s Bay and Kai Tak, as well as the Legislative Council Complex extension. Appointed the first Secretary for Housing when transport and housing were split in 2022, she drove a programme of 30,000 Light Public Housing flats and legislated to regulate Basic Housing Units.