A Short Chronicle of Welfare Failure - Solutions Are Needed vfnow.org/6159/short-chronicle-welfare-failures-solutions-needed/ On 11 February 2014, refugees took action after years of mistreatment against the contractor appointed by the Social Welfare Department (“SWD”) for welfare services to their community. The newly formed Refugee Union called for a stop to the distribution of food supplies without prices. On 28 November 2014, however, the SWD surprised the refugee community by issuing an “Invitation to Tender for Provision of Assistance for Non-refoulement Claimants”. In stark contrast to previous arrangements, the monopoly was broken up into three service regions, whereby no contractor will be appointed more than two, and most significantly, food coupons will be introduced to redesign the much maligned and troubled food distribution channel. SWD foresees that “Food coupons will be the main form of food assistance in all three Regions.” Vision First’s “Campaign against Refugee Slums” exposed 69 questionable compounds where hundreds of refugees are settled and no less than 15 million HKD are disbursed to purported landlords from the public purse on an annual basis. Again the SWD rallied behind its contractor on the housing of refugees by supporting claims that the great majority of refugees choose their own living arrangements – even when these are unauthorized building structures. We propose a simple, temporary solution till the time refugees are allowed to work: If rent assistance must be capped at 1500$, Vision First says that refugees’ tenancy agreements ought to be subjected to stamp duty before public funds are disbursed to landlords (apparently this is not happening). The Inland Revenue Department warns that all agreements for lease are chargeable with stamp duty, in accordance with to law, and omission to stamp is an offense. An unstamped tenancy agreement shall not be received in evidence and cannot be acted upon by any public officer. Vision First emphasises that the Inland Revenue Ordinance is binding on all landlords renting out properties and it is thus incumbent upon SWD to ensure compliance by its contractor and beneficiaries. vfnow.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/List-of-refugee-slums-approved-by-ISS-HK-15Dec2014.pdf
Posted on: Mon, 15 Dec 2014 06:05:08 +0000
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