HK does have a housing issue but the place that is set on fire isn’t “public housing” in the way it’s understood in the West (or even in Hong Kong). I don’t blame the Ms Ren for the error - it’s yet another eg of Western media not appreciating the nuances behind housing in Hong Kong when reporting on the fire. The place where the fire started is called Wang Fook COURT, which in Hong Kong parlance denotes residential housing construction of which is arranged by the government to be sold below market price to lower middle income earners, but primary buyers who decide to sell at a later date must first pay the difference between purchase price and the place’s market price at time of purchase. In other words, the Government effectively gives interest-free loans to the first hand buyers of such apartments with terms that end when the first hand buyer sells. By contrast, public housing as the term is typically understood (ie government builds and people rent at lower than market rates) are another category of housing altogether, and in Hong Kong they are typically called “[Name] HOUSE”. While the HK Government has tried emulating Singapore and letting long term tenants buy their own public housing units at below market rates, the take-up hasn’t been great because these apartments are subject to a whole lot more restrictive covenants as to the “enjoyment” (in the property law sense of the term) of them, compared with the COURT apartments that get sold.