Housing problems and the lack of job opportunities in HK always worry citizens. There have been a number of demonstrations relating to the issues as the government fails to deal with the problems effectively. As teenagers, there is no doubt that housing and unemployment problems are affecting our plan for our future livelihood.
The prices of land are mainly controlled by a few large-scale property developers. The government officials claimed that only 391 hectares of land is available for development, but the actual land available is much more than claimed. In fact, most of the vacant land is owned by large-scale private property developers. The MTR Corporation is one of the examples. Though HK citizens are facing the shortage of private flat supply, the MTR decides not to release all the projects in order not to flood the market and to maintain the property value. As almost all the property developers do the same, the land price keeps increasing. Moreover, thanks to the speculation in the property market of some affluent mainlanders, the prices of flats are skyrocketing. Such a trend has brought a huge financial burden for the future generations, especially for teenagers who are planning to start a family.
Although the government is putting constant effort into providing public housing units to the people, it cannot meet the demands of all teenagers. Since some of them cannot be qualified for applying for a unit in public housing estates, they can only stay in old and private buildings by paying monthly rents to the landlords. As we know, the flats they rent are rather small and crowded though the rents are low. It is hard for them to overcome the housing difficulties, as the rents paid have accounted for nearly half of their wages in some cases.
The government should indeed curb the influx of speculations in the property market by imposing limitations and increasing the property tax on the property developers. It should plan to build youth hostels for teenagers who are qualified under a means test. As the rents paid in youth hostels will be low, it is not difficult for teenagers to afford them.
For us teenagers, we should set financial targets to save money for future consumption. It is not sensible to spend money irrationally on items that are not necessities. We can do it by depositing our money in the banks, and listing the expected expenditure every month.
Another pressing problem is unemployment. HK’s economy has a greater fluctuation compared to that of the other regions as it can be easily affected when the other countries have financial crisis. Therefore, the unemployment rate in HK can be varied. If a person is not competitive enough, he or she will become unemployed, especially during an economic depression. Most teenagers lack work experience, so they may only get jobs which offer less income. In some cases the companies will fire some teenagers who are not mature or capable enough to handle the work. Without enough working skills in adapting to the knowledge-based economy, it is hard to survive.
It is obvious that the government should provide professional training for teenagers so that they gain not only career-related knowledge, but also work skills. At the same time, the government can subsidize the teenagers to study abroad for greater independence.
For us, we should learn to take care of ourselves, and try not to totally rely on our parents. All the problems should be sorted out by ourselves, so that we have the capability of clearing the obstacles in the tough times to come.
To sum up, although the housing and unemployment problems will be a big challenge for us, we will not shrink back if we equip ourselves well and get ready for facing them. The government’s support and our self-training are the keys to successful adaptation in society.