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■政務司司長林鄭月娥探訪基層市民。資料圖片
在普天同慶的聖誕佳節，身任扶貧委員會主席的政務司司長林鄭月娥，親身到深水埗探望了分別居住「板房」及「天台屋」的兩戶人家，以及在附近一帶棲身的露宿者。聖誕剛過除夕又至，特首梁振英和政務司司長林鄭月娥先後在節日訪貧問苦，體現特區政府對弱勢社群的關愛。特首高官探訪窮人當然需要，更重要的是幫窮人解決具體問題。當局應盡早落實各項扶貧措施，特別是針對基層市民住屋需要，推出針對性政策，將市區的荒置工廈、舊樓等改建成單身人士宿舍，讓有需要的窮人有瓦遮頭。
當下，弱勢社群最迫切解決的是住屋難題，租金持續高企，輪候公屋遙遙無期，不少人唯有蝸居於「劏房」之中。但在僧多粥少之下，連「劏房」的租金也水漲船高，露宿街頭實屬無可奈何。為此，當局應善用現有資源，利用市區中不少荒置的舊樓及工廈，改建成單身人士宿舍，供有需要人士暫時棲身直到成功申請公屋為止。針對基層市民在通脹壓力下生活困難，當局在即將發表的施政報告中也應有全盤的紓困和扶貧措施，在施政上體現出對弱勢的關顧和支持。
Visiting the poor in the festive season is a gesture of care but implementing poverty alleviation measures is the fundamental task
In the joyful festival of Christmas, the Chief Secretary for Administration and chairperson of the Commission on Poverty, Mrs Carrie Lam personally visited two households living in a cubicle apartment as well as a roof-top house in Sham Shui Po; and she also met the homeless in the neighbourhood. Christmas just passed and New Year was round the corner. During this festive season, the Chief Executive Mr Leung Chun-ying and the Chief Secretary Mrs Carrie Lam had paid successive visits to the poor people and listened to their hardship. This shows the loving care the government has towards the underprivileged people. It is a much-needed move for the Chief Executive and principal officials to visit the poor, but the more important task is to help the poor solve their specific problems. The authorities should implement as quickly as possible various poverty alleviation policies, in particular to meet the housing needs of the grassroots. Targeted policies, such as turning abandoned factory buildings and old buildings in the urban area into hostels for single persons, should be introduced in order to provide shelter for the poor people in need.
Currently, the most pressing problem faced by the underprivileged is housing. As the rent continues to surge and the chance of being allocated a public housing unit is remote, quite a number of people resort to living in “small subdivided units”. However, as supply does not meet demand, even the rent for a “small subdivided units”rises to a level that leaves the poor people with no choice but to become street sleepers. To tackle the problem, the authorities should make better use of their existing resources and turn the large number of abandoned old buildings and factory buildings in the urban area into hostels for single persons to give the needy people a temporary home until they successfully apply for a public housing unit. As regards the hardship suffered by the grassroots due to inflation, the government should incorporate comprehensive poverty relief and alleviation measures in the Policy Address soon to be announced, demonstrating care and support to the underprivileged people by means of administrative measures. （節自2012年12月28日香港《文匯報》） ■Translation by Tung-ming [ tungming23@gmail.com ]
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