A key member of Hong Kong’s Housing Authority has suggested offering some leeway to public rental flat applicants whose incomes are slightly above the threshold to prevent people from “lying flat” and earning less in order to qualify.

Cleresa Wong Pie-yue, chairwoman of the authority’s subsidised housing committee, on Monday cited media reports as saying some families waiting for a public rental flat would quit their jobs, switch to part-time work or ask their children to remain unemployed after graduating so the household income and asset levels would remain below the threshold.

“When the waiting time for a public rental flat is relatively long, the income limit may unintentionally prompt some residents to suppress their urge to work and their aspiration for upward mobility. This will negatively impact Hong Kong’s overall human resources and economic momentum,” she said at the annual special meeting of the authority, the city’s major public housing provider.

The average waiting time for a public rental flat stands at 5.3 years.

“We can consider whether the authority can allow applicants to exclude some genuine and reasonable one-off income as they declare their income to reduce the lying flat phenomenon,” Wong said.

But she stressed the authority should set a “clear boundary” so that only residents in need could access public housing resources.

The monthly income threshold for a household with three members is HK$25,100 (US$3,200), while that for a four-person family is HK$31,000.