30th October 2026 – (Hong Kong) Deputy Financial Secretary and Acting Secretary for Housing Mr Michael Wong Wai-lun opened a thematic press conference this morning by apologising again to the public, with Secretary for Development Ms Bernadette Linn Hon-ho also offering her apology.
Secretary for Development Ms Bernadette Linn Hon-ho said today she had thought about resigning after the Buildings Department was named for criticism in the Wang Fuk Court fire report, but stressed that her duty was to follow the Chief Executive’s lead and get on with the work.
Linn was speaking with Deputy Financial Secretary and Acting Secretary for Housing Mr Michael Wong Wai-lun at a thematic press conference spelling out reforms to the building-maintenance regulatory system and support services, a day after the independent committee’s report on the Tai Po blaze was released. Both opened by apologising again to the public.
Asked whether she had considered quitting given the department under her policy purview had been singled out, Linn recalled that Chief Executive John Lee had months earlier likened himself to a ship’s captain. She cast herself as crew on the voyage, saying the issue was not personal preference but doing what the captain required. “I have thought about it, but sometimes it is not a question of personal wish,” she said, adding that she still had a responsibility to discharge her own duties properly.
On the reform package, Linn said the planned Building Maintenance Support and Services Authority would be a self-financing body offering charged services to owners. The government has set aside HK$300 million for it — HK$100 million as start-up capital and HK$200 million to ease fees for owners in need. Charges have not been fixed, but with agency work, tendering and supervision involved she expected costs in the thousands of dollars.
She noted that comparable services available today run to only a few hundred dollars, yet future offerings would be heavily subsidised — from 50 per cent to 95 per cent — with fee relief aimed at those most in need, especially buildings with low rateable values. For “three-nil” blocks without owners’ corporations or management, the government would study how to deliver agency services well. Deeper and wider support would cost more than today’s model, she said, but owners should get value for money and face fairer long-term works bills.
Turning to public concern over whether steel reinforcement and concrete meet standards, Linn said sites would have to photograph and video the rebar layout before pouring, submit every record to the Buildings Department for spot checks, then record again after pouring and commission independent laboratory sampling, with those reports also filed with the department. Further briefings for the industry are planned.
She hoped the new authority could be set up by year-end, with building-inspection consultants appointed early next year and tendering for eligible projects within the first quarter. Amendments to the Buildings Ordinance are due to be outlined to the Legislative Council later this month, with passage next year sought so the regime can start in the first quarter.
Wong said the Housing Bureau would establish a Public Housing Buildings Control Unit and expected the related work to be finished within next month. Asked how long he would remain acting secretary for housing, he called the arrangement open-ended — personally, long or short both suited him — with no fixed cut-off. Whether a permanent successor is found rests with the chief executive; with little of the current term left, recruiting someone to take over would itself be a challenge.
Pressed on why former Secretary for Housing Ms Winnie Ho Wing-yin did not join other officials in Thursday’s bow of apology, Wong said he had taken over the housing portfolio on an acting basis from that day and pointed reporters to the statement Ho issued yesterday. Lee had already set out a wider overhaul including the new support authority, Buildings Department restructuring, a central data system and complaints reform, plus a steering committee to drive delivery.
