The rapid spread of Covid-19 through residential care homes during Hong Kong’s fifth wave highlighted the less than optimal conditions in which many elderly people were living.

Even before the pandemic, there were challenges in the provision of accommodation for elderly people, with the city facing both a shortage of residential places and a lack of premises that catered to residents’ needs.

We need to rethink the development of elderly homes. The situation will drive more people to look for higher-quality accommodation for the elderly, including purpose-built flats that would enable families to remain more involved in the care of their ageing relatives.

The number of people in Hong Kong aged 65 or over is projected to soar from more than 1.5 million in 2022 to 2.3 million by 2032 – a 46.3 per cent increase, according to the Census and Statistics Department. From 2039 onwards, the elderly population is then expected to remain at more than 2.5 million for at least 30 years.

This rapid increase in the elderly population comes at a time when the city is already facing a shortfall in residential care homes for the elderly (RCHE), particularly in the districts of Kwun Tong, Sai Kung and Wong Tai Sin, where there is a higher concentration of elderly people, but a relatively low supply of places in care homes.

The shortage is particularly acute for subsidised RCHE places. Under planning guidelines, the ratio of subsidised beds per 1,000 people aged over 65 is only 21.3 across Hong Kong on a five-cluster basis. Districts falling below this level include Eastern, Island, Sai Kung and Sha Tin.

The public sector provides only 29 per cent of existing RCHE places, with the remaining 71 per cent provided by private sector players, suggesting it will be the private sector that meets the shortfall.

There are also issues with the standard of living some elderly care homes offer. Many privately-owned RCHEs are located in the retail podiums of ageing composite buildings, which have not been purpose-built for elderly residents.

The minimum floor area requirement for elderly people is far below what could be considered reasonable. Regulations governing RCHEs stipulate that they must have a minimum floor area of 6.5 square metres for each resident, a requirement that does not adequately meet the space needs of senior residents, particularly those who are in wheelchairs or require crutches. With reference to the new land sale clause for the minimum size threshold of residential units of 26 square metres, and given the average household size of 2.7 people in 2021, the minimum space per person should have been at least 9.6 square metres.

At the same time, the homes lack the design features that would enhance the standard of living of elderly residents, ranging from measures to increase their ease of mobility, such as wide doors, to wellness facilities to help them remain active and in good health.

There is clearly a need for a greater variety and higher standard of accommodation across Hong Kong to meet the needs of the city’s fast-growing elderly population.

Purpose-built elder accommodation would not only provide comprehensive facilities and adequate space for residents. Important safety and hygiene standards to help prevent the spread of infectious diseases could also be incorporated into the design.

Previous schemes, such as exemption from land premium payments for certain transactions for purpose-built RCHEs in new private developments, rolled out by the Lands Department in 2003, have failed to act as a significant incentive to developers. So far only one development has been completed under the scheme since its inception.

As a result, the government should consider introducing new incentives to encourage developers to build more elderly-friendly flats within private residential developments. Such accommodation would not only provide more spacious housing, but would also enable residents to continue to live close to family, making it easier for them to be involved in their care.

Incentives could also help to address the gap in the market for upscale elderly accommodation. There is currently only a small number of elderly-friendly housing projects in the market, provided by private developers and the Hong Kong Housing Society.

Notable features of these developments include larger flats with one to three bedrooms, offering greater privacy for elderly people and enabling them to live with or close to family members. They also include elderly-friendly designs, such as wheelchair-accessible corridors, doors and sizeable lifts, sliding bathroom doors and adapted washbasins and showers, and emergency call bells. Healthcare and wellness facilities targeted at the elderly are also on site.

As Hong Kong’s elderly population increases, the shortage of accommodation for the elderly needs to be addressed, with a greater emphasis placed on providing homes of an adequate size, with elderly-friendly designs, that enable people to live with or near their family.

Private developers are well placed to meet this need, and should explore opportunities in districts with the most acute elderly accommodation shortages, such as Eastern, Island, Kwun Tong, Sai Kung, Sha Tin and Wong Tai Sin.