The current pet keeping policy in public housing estates in Hong Kong was introduced in 2003 by the Housing Department after the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). Its objective is to improve the hygiene of public housing estates. Under the policy, public housing tenants are allowed to keep small household pets such as cats and birds but are prohibited from keeping dogs at their premises except under special circumstances, subject to the approval granted by the Housing Authority. The policy has led to debates and calls for amendments.
History and background Origin of the prohibition of pet keeping
Tenancy agreement of the housing authority The tenancy agreements signed between the housing authority and the tenants of public rental housing (PRH) and interim housing estates stipulate that tenants cannot keep any animal, bird or livestock in their premises without prior consent. The Housing Department, which is responsible for receiving and attending to complaints from the tenants, adopted a tolerant approach towards the keeping of small animals that in general do not bring hygiene and environmental nuisance to other tenants. The department also allowed the keeping of dogs for persons with visual and audio disabilities. Yet, the department enforced the regulation only upon receipt of complaints.
Timeline of the Evolvement of the Policy
May 2003: The outbreak of SARS and proposed marking scheme After the outbreak of SARS in Hong Kong in 2003, on 5 May 2003, the then Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa established “Team Clean” for entrenching a high level of public and environmental hygiene in Hong Kong. In response to the epidemic and Team Clean's recommendations, the Housing Department took a number of initiatives to improve cleanliness of public housing estates. Marking Scheme for Tenancy Enforcement in Public Rental and Interim Housing Estates was one of the 18 measures proposed by the Housing Department. Under the system, offences to be covered are divided into three categories. According to Annex A of the meeting memorandum, “keeping animal, bird or livestock inside leased premises” was classified under Category B, which would cause an allotment of 5 penalty points upon violation. The department suggested implementing the proposed Marking Scheme on 1 July 2003.
29 May 2003: Endorsement of marking scheme In a meeting of the Subsidised Housing Committee of the Housing Authority on 29 May 2003, the proposed marking scheme was endorsed.
1 Aug 2003 - 31 Oct 2003: Grace period After the endorsement of the Marking Scheme, a number of animal concern groups and dog-lovers demanded a removal of the penalty relating to the keeping of animals in public rental housing estate. The Hong Kong Concern Group for Pets (CGP) and Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) are examples of opposing voices to the policy. The groups expressed their concerns over the abandonment and death of animals kept by current public rental housing tenants and the possible increase of risk of the outbreak of diseases like rabies. They made three requests to the government, including a) removal of the misdeed item on “keeping animal, bird and livestock” from the Marking Scheme; b) allowing grandfathering of dogs already kept by the tenants in PRH in the short term; and c) eventual deletion of the clause that restricts the keeping of animals in PRH from the tenancy agreement.
Due to the overwhelming public concern over the issue, the Housing Department originally allowed a two-month grace period (1 Aug 2003 to 30 Sept 2003) for the enforcement against animal keeping under the Marking Scheme. Yet, upon the endorsement, members of the Subsidised Housing Committee decided that the new policy against animal keeping shall take effect from 1 Nov 2003. The grace period was therefore extended for one month to 31 Oct 2003. During the grace period, there would be no enforcement of the Marking Scheme against animal keeping.
25 Sep 2003: Relaxing the prohibition Upon the receipt of complaints over the prohibition from various animal rights concern groups, the Subsidised Housing Committee decided to relax the scope of animals affected by the prohibition, and to adopt more flexible approaches to households that were keeping dogs at that time.
From 23 to 28 Aug 2003, the Housing Authority conducted a public opinion survey with 4,004 PRH residents out of 606,600 households by means of telephone interview. 43.7% of the respondents cited “foul public areas” as their primary reason against pet keeping in PRH flats. Based on the result, the Subsidised Housing Committee decided to allow the keeping of service dogs, small household pets and desexed cats since they do not impose hygiene related hazards and nuisance.
For small dogs (not over 20 kg in weight) currently kept in the estates, the “grandfathering approach” was adopted. Under the approach, small dogs that were kept before 1 Aug 2003, if registered with documentary evidences on licensing, vaccination, micro-chipping and desexing, were allowed to be kept until the natural death of the dog. Nevertheless, estates under the Tenants Purchase Scheme were not benefited from the relaxation of rules about dog keeping, since these estates had established their own Owners’ Corporations and tenants were regulated by the Deed of Mutual Covenants which stipulates the prohibition of dog keeping in those estates.
Second Quarter of 2010: Intensified efforts to control dog keeping At the end of 2009, the Subsidised Housing Committee decided to strengthen actions against unauthorised dog keeping in the PRH estates in the second quarter of 2010. Several approaches, including a) revalidating Temporary Permission Rule; b) flexibly deploying Special Teams to detect unauthorised dog keeping; c) adopting tighter control of visitors carrying dogs to domestic blocks by the security guards; and d) encouraging tenants to report unauthorised dog keeping in PRH estates through radio broadcast and posters.
The intensified efforts incurred one-off expenditure for intensified publicity, educational programmes and installation of ten extra Mobile Digital Closed Circuit Television System (MDCCTV) sets amounting to $2.5 million. The monthly charges for the additional Special Teams were $183,000.
Early 2012: AFCD’s modification on the dog application form On 29 March 2010, the Audit Commission issued a report on “Control of Pet Animals”. The Commission suggested in the report that the Housing Department should liaise with the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) to handle the problem of unauthorised dog keeping in public housing flats. The Director of Housing agreed with the audit recommendation, and the Director of AFCD agreed to offer support to the Director of Housing. Therefore, AFCD modified and finalised the dog application form which would be used starting from early 2012. After the modification, relevant licensing information of the concerned dog and owner could be transferred to the Housing Department for investigation and enforcement action.
10 Nov 2015: The establishment of subcommittee on issues relating to animal welfare and cruelty to animals On 10 Nov 2015, the Panel of Food Safety and Environmental Hygiene in the Legislative Council agreed to establish the Subcommittee on Issues Relating to Animal Welfare and Cruelty to Animals. The Subcommittee recommended that the Panel should formulate an animal-friendly policy to better protect the welfare of animals, including reviewing the policy on the keeping of animals by public housing tenants. Multiple concern groups were invited to attend meetings of the Subcommittee to express their views on animal keeping in PRH estates. Different Legislative Council members also expressed in the Subcommittee their concerns over the prohibition.
11 Jan 2016: Authorising the keeping of companion dogs In 2015, the “懇請政府重訂屋宇飼養犬隻條例聯盟” (no English name available) (now renamed as Give Dogs A Home 給狗狗一個家) started a series of actions, such as pledge signing and setting up opinion gathering booths to demand further relaxation of the prohibition of dog keeping in PRH estates. Since 25 Sep 2015, the group met representatives from the Housing Authority several times to discuss on the possibility of allowing more tenants in PRH estates to keep dogs.
On 11 Jan 2016, the Housing Authority declared to allow tenants with strong special needs to keep a companion dog. Medical proof would be required.
26 Jun 2017: Subcommittee on issues relating to animal welfare and cruelty to animals discussing animal keeping in PRH Estates On 26 June 2017, the Subcommittee to Study Issues Relating to Animal Rights of the Legislative Council called a meeting to discuss animal-friendly policies in Hong Kong. Attendees included officials from the Housing Department, the Food and Health Bureau and Transport Department were present in the meeting, as well as representatives from 19 animal interest groups.
Legislative Councillors Claudia Mo and Raymond Chan Chi-chuen of People Power jointly tabled a motion to urge the government to loosen the ban on pet dogs in public housing estates in order to reduce the number of abandoned dogs, and the motion was passed by the Subcommittee members unanimously.
Meanwhile, Legislative Councillor Roy Kwong Chun-yu of the Democratic Party said that if the government hopes to implement animal-friendly policies in Hong Kong, it should stop limiting itself by using “restrictions of current regulations” as an excuse.
Current regulations
Marking scheme for estate management enforcement The current pet keeping policy in Public Housing Estates adopts the blueprint of the Marking Scheme for Estate Management Enforcement introduced in 2003, under which public rental housing (PRH) estate tenants and Interim Housing (IH) licensees would be penalised for misdeeds affecting estate management. As aforementioned, with effect from 1 November 2003, if a tenant keeps animals, birds or livestocks inside leased premises without prior written consent of the Housing Authority, he or she will be allotted 5 penalty points without warning. When a PRH / IH household has accrued 16 points within two years, its tenancy / licence will be liable to termination.
The Housing Authority granted a general permission for the keeping of small household pets as long as they do not cause nuisance or health hazard. No prior registration is required. Small household pets include cats, birds, hamsters, rabbits, aquatic life, etc. Cats kept in public housing estates should also be desexed. Wildlife, exotic animals and domesticated farm animals are strictly prohibited.
The Subsidised Housing Committee of the Housing Authority upheld its ban on dog keeping in public housing estates on 25 September 2003. Generally speaking, the Housing Authority will not approve application for dog keeping, except under special circumstances. The Housing Authority might exercise discretion and grant conditional approval to: Physically impaired tenants who need to keep guide dogs and; Tenants who need to keep companion dogs for mental support (provision of medical evidence from medical practitioners is required). Tenants whose small dogs had been kept in the leased premises prior to the implementation of the Marking Scheme (i.e. The Temporary Permission Rule).
Temporary permission rule The Temporary Permission Rule was adopted to handle dogs kept in public housing prior to the implementation of the Marking Scheme. The Rule stipulated that one-off permissions would be granted to tenants who applied to continue keeping small dogs (i.e. less than 20 kilograms in weight) which had been kept in the leased premises before 1 August 2003. Tenants who had been granted the permission should comply with the regulations for dog keeping. If there are two substantiated incidents of breaking rules, the permission would be withdrawn.