The Government will continue its work on targeted poverty alleviation by directing resources to those most in need with a series of corresponding measures in the 2025 Policy Address delivered by Chief Executive John Lee.
Activities of the Strive & Rise Alumni Club will be enriched, providing young people with training and experience that integrate Hong Kong pop culture and traditional Chinese arts. The Government will inject $180 million into the Child Development Fund to implement projects promoting the long-term development of primary students from disadvantaged communities, and enhance different elements of the projects by drawing on the successful experience of the Strive & Rise Programme with a view to reducing intergenerational poverty.
Six additional Community Living Rooms (CLRs) will be set up. Together with the nine CLRs, they are expected to benefit about 7,000 subdivided unit households.
Meanwhile, time-limited cash incentives will be provided on a pilot basis for households leaving the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme (CSSA) and eligible for the Working Family Allowance to promote the self-reliance of these households.
The Report on Impact of Targeted Poverty Alleviation Strategy in Hong Kong will be published in mid 2026.
As regards care for the elderly, the Government will provide about 700 new subsidised residential care service places and increase the number of Residential Care Service Vouchers for the Elderly by 1,000 to a total of 7,000. The number of Community Care Service Vouchers for the Elderly will also rise by 4,000 to 16,000. Three new Neighbourhood Elderly Centres will be set up to strengthen support at the district level.
A pilot scheme will be launched by the end of this year to subsidise elderly CSSA recipients retiring in Guangdong to reside in designated residential care homes for the elderly (RCHEs) in the province. Eligible seniors will each receive a monthly subsidy of $5,000, subject to a quota of 1,000.
The Residential Care Services Scheme in Guangdong will also be expanded. Starting in October, the number of Mainland RCHEs participating in the scheme will increase from 15 to 24, while the number of cities covered will rise from six to eight.
Noting that carers play an important role in supporting the elderly and people with disabilities, the Chief Executive said the Government will earmark an annual recurrent expenditure of $500 million to roll out measures to support them.
Among these measures is the District Services & Community Care Teams – Scheme on Supporting Elderly & Carers, which will continue to be implemented for three years, under which care teams provide support to high-risk families and assist households in installing an emergency alarm system as necessary. The Support for Carers Project will also continue to be implemented for three years.
The Policy Address also outlined measures in support of people in rehabilitation. The Government will collaborate with university teams to formulate guidelines for consumers of rehabilitation products, with electric wheelchairs, electric smart beds and robotic exoskeletons as pilot items, setting out the basic requirements of these products to assist the users and their carers in selecting suitable products.
Moreover, the Government will add places at care homes and hostels for people with special needs, including the extra 80 places for the Bought Place Scheme for Private Residential Care Homes for People with Disabilities, the additional 220 places at special child care centres, the extra 100 places at day activity centres, and the additional 50 places at hostels for severely mentally handicapped persons.
As people with disabilities face additional challenges in their daily life, Mr Lee said that from the second quarter of 2026, the Government will introduce one-stop support and care services at hostels for the severely and moderately mentally handicapped, and increase the number of extended care places at hostels co-located with day activity centres/integrated vocational rehabilitation services centres.
Such measures will release about 700 day rehabilitation training places, providing day training for people with disabilities living in the community and alleviating the burden of carers, he added.
