HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong officials on Saturday unveiled resettlement plans for thousands of people who were displaced by the deadliest blaze in decades last November, proposing to buy back the homeownership rights from the fire victims.
Almost three months after the massive blaze spread across seven apartment buildings in Wang Fuk Court, its former occupants have been living in uncertainty about when they would find somewhere they could call home again.
Many of them are adjusting to new lives in their temporary homes scattered across various districts, with the government offering rental grants to help homeowners pay for the short-term accommodation.
Officials said in a news conference on Saturday that homeowners of the seven buildings can sell their ownership rights for cash to secure accommodation of their choice or buy an apartment under a designated government policy. Residents who prefer not to deal with a large amount of cash can directly exchange an apartment under the policy.
The government estimated that buying back the rights of some 1,700 units would cost about 6.8 billion Hong Kong dollars ($870 million), with about HK$4 billion Hong Kong ($512 million) of that sum to be from public funds and the rest to be covered by a relief fund. The amount of public funds involved could eventually be lowered, factoring in insurance compensation.
Michael Wong, the city’s Deputy Financial Secretary, said the administration was inclined to dismantle the seven buildings and would not redevelop residential homes on the fire site. It could be transformed into a park or community facilities instead.
Wong said there’s no reasonable or cost-effective way to repair the damaged buildings, and if the government doesn’t intervene, it will be hard for homeowners to find buyers in the market.
“In other words, the funds they have invested in these units over the years could turn to nothing,” he said.
The government aims to contact the homeowners in March and hopes to pay the owners in the third quarter of this year, he said, while those who opt for the apartment exchange program could start picking new homes in September.
The proposals came after affected residents were surveyed about their preferences. Wong said 74% of the respondents were willing to consider selling their ownership rights to the government. Some 9% of those who answered the survey said they would only accept redevelopment at the fire site, which the government expected to take about a decade, he said.
Cyrus Ng, whose elderly parents lived in one of the buildings, said his family preferred to move back to their home after maintenance work but they never had a chance to see how badly damaged their apartment was. He was also sceptical about the government’s claim that redevelopment at the fire site would take about a decade, saying it needed to provide more information.
“I didn’t have much expectation about today. I got some new information after tuning in but still haven’t got what we wanted in our heart,” he said.
The blaze killed 168 people on Nov. 26, 2025, and has shattered a close-knit community in the suburban district of Tai Po. Authorities blamed substandard scaffold netting and foam boards used in a maintenance project for rapidly spreading the fire. Although some arrests were made, an independent committee is still investigating the cause.