A Glimpse of our Future? The Coffin Homes of Hong Kong

[smirkymonkey]

https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2017/05/the-coffin-homes-of-hong-kong/526881/

Real Estate and rent have been spiraling out of control in this country, especially in coastal cities. Rents in inner cities are prohibitive for anyone making a minimum wage or even less than a solid college-educated living wage. Micro-apartments are starting to become a thing in large cities, but could things become as bad as they are in Hong Kong for those who are on the lower end of the scale?

"Associated Press photographer Kin Cheung spent time recently photographing some of the tiny subdivided housing units in Hong Kong, known as “coffin homes,” and those who live in them. Cheung reports that there is a “dark side to the property boom in wealthy Hong Kong, where hundreds of thousands of people priced out of the market must live in partitioned apartments, ‘coffin homes’ and other inadequate housing.” These residents are among an estimated 200,000 people in Hong Kong living in such tiny subdivided units, some so small that a person cannot even fully stretch out their legs."

[virgogal]

1. Reminds me of

the poor family’s apartment in the movie “Parasite” but that was in Seoul.

[smirkymonkey]

4. Even they had more space than this.

These are smaller than cubicles. These people barely have enough space to recline fully. This is why people in Hong Kong are rebelling.

[LizBeth]

2. I am so spoiled. It would be hard to breathe.

But on the other hand it is a roof over the head and where one can lay their head down.

[smirkymonkey]

5. I live in a fairly small studio and I quite like it.

But this is insanity. These people are paying around $1,500 USD per month for these spaces. Even in an expensive US city you could get a small suburban studio with a kitchen and bath for that much that would be at least 500 sq ft. These people barely have room to breathe.

[dixiegrrrrl]

11. I'm looking at the jumble of electric wires, etc.

Those things are torches waiting for a spark.
the people building and renting out those warrens of cramped spaces are to be condemned.

Lest we think this is another countries' problem, I recall in my college student/house sharing days mid-1970's
discovering that someone wanted to rent out 2 tiny rooms, which were created by putting a particle board wall down the middle of an already small attic bedroom. You had to be under 5' 8" if you wanted to stand at any point. No room for even a twin bed.

[mr_lebowski]

25. Oh these are all in really old buildings and almost certainly 100% concrete so there's that at least

I'm sure fires happen but they're contained pretty quickly.

It would SUUUUCK living there though.

Although ... you ever heard of the infamous Walled City of Kowloon? Apparently due to some old colonial agreement this particular tiny section of HK was essentially sovereign territory ... and MAN was it a mess ... no building codes, no law enforcement, etc ...

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2139914/A-rare-insight-Kowloon-Walled-City.html

[napi21]

29. I went to the link in your post. It's hard to believe people live like thaat. Eve worse was

the lack of ANY sanitation to food prep they were doing in those spaces. I assume they were selling that food. I wonder how many people died from whatever got into that food.

[mr_lebowski]

30. Probably less than you'd think would've died from food ...

First off food poisoning doesn't kill many people generally, it just makes em sick. And people tend to get immunity to the germs in their locales. Air and water quality, as well as just sickness spreading due to proximity were bigger killers I'd guess. Tuberculosis was definitely not eradicated in HK in those days, don't think typhoid was entirely either. Not sure now TBH. And EVERYBODY SMOKED in HK back then, not shitting you.

Secondly HK is on the ocean so there's LOTS of fresh seafood eaten, which doesn't require the same sanitation level as, say, chicken. And they eat a lot of 'salted' stuff, like pressed duck for example.

Thirdly they tend to cook at very high temps there (woks), and they eat lots of soups where everything is boiled.

[2naSalit]

32. My parents told us stories

Last edited Mon Feb 24, 2020, 02:28 AM - Edit history (1)

about this place. My dad bought a camera during his travels in the military and had a large trunk of color slides of the places he went. He had Hong Kong in his catalogue and I recall seeing a few pictures of Kowloon.

[mr_lebowski]

35. Kowloon is a large area of HK, the Walled City is just a particular multi-block area therein

Or rather was, it was demo'd in the early 1990's.

Hong Kong was a very cool place, at least back when I lived there.

Despite the astronomical rents, everything else was pretty freaking cheap.

Used to get Big Macs and Quarter Pounders delivered to our school for lunch, they were US$.60. I know it was like 1980 but it was still about 1/2 the US cost back then. Pack of Marlboro's was under $1, and a JUG of Bacardi Rum was like $4.50. Could get a pair Levi's Jeans (actual real ones) for about $10. The bus from Repulse Bay to Central District (about a 7 mile ride) was between 12 cents on the crappy older buses to 25 cents for the new, nicer ones. Cab Ride the same distance was about $5. The Star Ferry which took you across the channel from HK Island to Kowloon, which is a couple mile ride ... was 6 cents to ride.

You get the idea. I've also heard its WAAAAAAY not like that anymore ... It's not like Japan expensive, but stuff is now more than the US, generally, not less.

Tell ya, I LOVED it once I got used to it (did I mention there was no drinking or smoking age there then ... and the sailors would bring great Thai Stick to town on the regular ... lol). I was just hitting the age when my folks gave me more freedom (13 when I arrived) ... crime was quite low and public transit was GREAT, I could go anywhere, super cheap. We also had a Yahama 33ft sailboat so we were out on that a lot, and I had my own little 10ft sailboat in a boat house near our place I could have brought out for me and put on the water whenever.

[LizBeth]

36. This is all so interesting. Thanks. I looks like that one area could easily be demolished.

I am not surprised it was done in 90's, but they sure squeezed those buildings in.

[mr_lebowski]

37. Probably would've been fairly routine to demolish Walled City but for the 50,000 people

that lived therein. It was actually a massive effort to relocate all those folks that took 5 years to accomplish. IIRC correctly it cost over $2B to pay people to move and then demolish and clear the area, though I forget if that was USD or HKD which I think were about 1:5 in value vs US at that time.

Complicating that effort was the fact that rent in that monstrosity was quite a bit lower than anywhere else in HK for similar size places. Which also explains why people would live in such squalid conditions ... it was cheap.

Can you imagine just the sheer volume of rubble and just nasty garbage there must've been to remove though? Holy crap ... it was like 50 years worth of 10 of 1000's of people doing whatever they wanted, with no city sanitation services.

People in Hong Kong are freaking PROS at demolition though ...

What's trippy too is that in many senses, a ton of what you see as the overall structure weren't 'buildings' in teh normal sense. Basically as the place got more and more full, they just kept building new dwellings on the roof tops of what was already there.

[LizBeth]

39. Interesting. I have seen these developments in S America and Africa.

I watched one show and I do not remember where, they were cutting the rooms in half and selling them off, horizontal. One could not stand up in these rooms rented at high prices. Again, just moments to remember how privileged I live. Small, but so much more.

[Demovictory9]

40. they demolished that city

[Blue_Tires]

41. I remember that... It was a map in Call of Duty!

[dixiegrrrrl]

42. I have heard of that city.

thanks for the videos.

[LizBeth]

13. My place isn't big either. I have lived in studios before.

And you are right, it was enough space and comfortable, cozy. But I am thinking the studio was between 500-600 sq foot. I see smaller in the NW.

[Newest Reality]

3. I wouldn't doubt it...

Something along those lines may be the future if the emphasis remains on building luxury homes, condos and apartments. In some places they build 80% luxury and 13% low-income, so the statistics indicate that something has to change.

I guess the reaction will be that it beats living in a tent or your car.

Otherwise, what else is there? Capitalism will not respond to the low-income housing crises because it is not profitable and the government, well, you know.

[smirkymonkey]

6. Tiny spaces are one thing, but these people can't even stretch out fully.

And they still pay most of their salary to live there. This is not right or sustainable. Human beings were not meant to live this way.

[Newest Reality]

12. I agree.

It is cruel and lacks basic dignity.

People who live in their cars can be very cramped in their sleeping positions depending on the car they have.

My tent gets very cold in the winter, but I have a old cot and can stretch out, at least. Of course, that's not very stable, leaks, etc.

I guess it all depends on a person's situation and such. We have a lot of people going homeless now and there will be an increase in seniors that will soon become much more obvious.

[enid602]

27. civilized

I'm glad we live in a more civilized country where the poor are free to live on the sidewalks.

[2naSalit]

33. A couple years ago...

though it still seems like last week, I lived in my 4Runner for ten months and I had a lot more room than these poor people. Yikes.

[mr_lebowski]

7. In the 1980's when I lived there the same basic problem existed but it was 15-20 people living

in a one bedroom apartment.

It's the most densely populated city in the world (although there's actually plenty of available land, but the government purposefully won't develop it cause it makes them more money not to do so), and there's a TOOOOOOON of money there obviously, so ... this is what happens.

Sucks, but it beats being homeless.

Just for a kick I look at listings there pretty regularly ... this place is ... aboooooout ... 2-300 yards West from where I lived, at about the same elevation/same view (paid for by my pop's company mind you) ...

How does a 3bd/3b 3300 sq ft. pad ... with ZERO yard ... for just under US$26,000,000 sound?

https://www.sothebysrealty.com/eng/sales/detail/180-l-83611-x5jwe4/-sole-agent-the-beachfront-repulse-bay-hk

Need something more reasonable? Here's a real nice flat in the complex next to the one I was in (the second picture shows mine, the huge white structure on the left) ... this complex (Repulse Bay Garden) was old when I lived there but the flats looks nicely redone ... 3bd/2ba 2K sq ft ... only US$8.9M ... freaking BARGAIN!

https://www.sothebysrealty.com/eng/sales/detail/180-l-83611-jf8gpe/-sole-agent-repulse-bay-garden-repulse-bay-hk

[smirkymonkey]

8. Is that per month?

Absolute madness.

[mr_lebowski]

9. Oh lord no those are purchase prices ...

Yeah, it's not THAT bad lol ...

Here's a nice rental in the Bay ... 3bd/2ba 2100 sq ft flat ... your rent is quite reasonable at a mere $11,548.60/mo.

https://www.listsothebysrealtyhk.com/en/properties/repulse-bay/south-bay-towers/130770

But if you wanna do it up with some style in a super modern (10 year old) building with full-on central air and heat and such? You need your place to be in The Lily ...



Where 4bd/4ba in 2600 sq ft of modern luxury, with a primo view ... will set ya back a cool US$28,871.77/mo in rent. But if you're living there, you're a person of considerable means, so ...

https://www.spacious.hk/en/hong-kong/repulse-bay/the-lily-f7883589-5837-45f5-ae8c-cf8819afa690/4096721-4-beds-4-baths

[LizBeth]

15. 75 million and not anything special.

Crazy. I love looking at homes. I explore homes all over the place for entertainment so those were fun links.

[mr_lebowski]

20. Yeah, it's pretty cray. But Repulse Bay is a little Oasis, a highly desirable area ...

Prices there are 81% above HK average overall, so there's that.

Course if you wanna seriously ball in Hong Kong, with some property, nice garden and a 9.1K sq ft pimped out mansion with 7bd/6.5ba ... you gotta come STRONG at US$126,000,000

https://www.listsothebysrealtyhk.com/en/properties/clear-water-bay/fei-ngo-shan-single-house/375439

[LizBeth]

21. At least you are getting something for you 126 million. Wow. Thanks.

[smirkymonkey]

16. Oh, well that is definitely more reasonable.

[hunter]

10. Here in the U.S.A. we just sleep in our cars...

... and hope to find someplace to park them where we won't be pulled out and beaten up by the cops.

[smirkymonkey]

17. The housing situation in this country is not acceptable either.

People need a decent roof over their heads. Everyone, not just those who are well-employed. It should be a basic right.

[2naSalit]

34. +1

or someone doesn't break out your windows or something like that.

[democratisphere]

14. Always be thankful for what you have.

Plenty of people have it much worse.

[smirkymonkey]

18. I am thankful for what I have. It's not much.

But I believe everyone needs to have a basic standard of living and that means having a functional apartment or home. Not a tiny cube to sleep in. I just find this very sad. These people spend so much money for so little in return. It's so undignified and dehumanizing. Nobody should have to live that way.

[hatrack]

22. But that doesn't mean that you settle for shit . . .

Or come to expect as your "lot in life".

[Hekate]

19. This is what 7 billion people looks like for increasing numbers of us...

[hunter]

23. A 250 square foot apartment isn't too much to ask for any of us.

That's a bed big enough for a couple, a shower, a toilet, a sink, a microwave oven... and room enough for many sorts of arts and crafts.

I lived about a year in a garden shed that was about 60 square feet. There was a nasty little toilet in another outbuilding and no shower. I had a locker at a gym, which is where I showered.

I cooked rice on a little stove.

It was a big step up from living in my car.

Even for seven and a half billion people there's no shortage of room for safe, secure, comfortable housing for all.

[Hekate]

31. You are right. But I think systems break down.

I am glad you are doing better.

[shanti]

24. Only thing good about this

is that it's better than being on the street. It does look like a firetrap though.

[Hoyt]

26. Seriously, it's nuts when we complain about cost of housing in this country when

most countries are envious of the size of our houses (heck, closets) and rental apartments, even developed European countries.

We are due for some serious downsizing and subsidies for the poor.

[Xolodno]

28. Not good.

Bad sanitation, etc. Is going to eventually spawn a virus...that will make SARS, Cov, etc. look like a picnic.

[Demovictory9]

38. google "cage homes"