How the Illegal Structures Are Threatening Our Life

Situation

Hong Kong - population over 7 million, limited amount of land and with high density of housing. People's living space is cramped, housing problems have always been and no actual solution can solve it by the Government. Starting from the past years until now, the selling price of property are keeping high and increasing, people are facing a serious problem at their resident place, especially for a group of young single person, most of them are earning a low salary, they either cannot afford a huge money for deposit to buy the private house, nor they cannot fulfill the qualification to apply for public house at the Housing Authority. Housing is a big obstacle to their personal development (Lo, 2013). Hence, they are forced to pay an expensive rent for rental house per month or they choose to live in a sub-divided flat.

Recently, illegal structures are one of the serious housing problems that we are facing. Since May 2011 and during the event of election of Chief-Executive last year, many politicians and our present Chief-Executive Mr. CY Leung and his ex-competitor Mr Henry Tong are revealed by media that their resident house have built up an illegal structures. Consequently, illegal structures become one of the hot and important issues the public concerned about. This essay will discuss how the illegal structures affect our life and the outcome of crackdown had been done by our Government.

Problem

The existence of illegal structures is a long lasting problem even in urban area and rural area. Illegal structures define as unauthorized modification of building, it is usually build a cover over the roof, demolition of gravity wall and or build up a basement under the floor. The most serious areas appear in New Territories, a lot of villages which located at Yuen Long, Tai Po, Fanling and Sheung Shui. Village houses in New Territories have a long history, illegal structures are a common phenomenon for each house. According to the statics provided by Building Department at 2012, there are about 3,503 compliant was received. The villagers generally build addition canopies over the roof or build one more layer to enlarge their living space. These unauthorized building did not affect the safety.

But however, some illegal structures will pose a threat to our lives. Two children was died in a New Territories fire last year due to the emergency vehicle had not proper access to the village house . The children's father reported that his neighbor's illegal walls encroach into the road, it caused to block the fire engine's access to the house. Fire Services Officers Association chairman Donny Mak Kam-fai said illegal structures in New Territories villages were a hazard that emergencies services had to contend with (John, 2012).

Moreover, similar to the risk of these illegal structures, sub-divided flats are one category of problem