力求卓越服務Cultivating Quality Services

為達致提供優質房屋及相關服務的目標，我們積極了解

和回應顧客的需要；並著力培訓人才�優化管理系統，

力求提升服務效率和成本效益。

To fulfil our mission to provide quality housing and related services to our customers, we take proactive measures to understand and respond to their needs, while also developing our people and strengthening our management systems to facilitate the delivery of both efficient and cost-effective services.

Cultivating Quality Services

To fulfil our mission to provide quality housing and

related services to our customers, we take proactive

measures to understand and respond to their needs,

while also developing our people and strengthening our

management systems to facilitate the delivery of both

efficient and cost-effective services.

Enhancing Communication with the Public

Despite our best efforts, none of our public rental

housing (PRH) initiatives would be sustainable if we do

not have the support of our tenants and the community.

To this end, we maintain effective communication with

our diverse stakeholders so that we can hear what our

tenants and the community have to say. To this end, we

do not only keep them informed of our various initiatives

and the reasons behind them, but also establish a two-

way dialogue through myriad communication channels.

Media Relations

As a first step in keeping the public informed and to

foster greater understanding of our activities, we maintain

our dialogue with the media, who help to spread our

message through newspapers and magazines, TV and

radio. During the year, our News Section issued

49 press releases, arranged 30 press briefings and

handled 840 media enquiries as well as 1 114 complaints

and enquiries referred to us by the media.

Housing Channel

To keep our tenants updated on important housing

developments, we continue to produce video segments

for broadcast on our Housing Channel. The material is

broadcast via LCD monitors installed in the lift lobbies

or public areas of PRH blocks. In 2008/09, we produced

over 40 videos to promote the safe use of estate facilities,

healthy living, green practices as well as information of

interest or importance to residents.

Messages on Air

During the year we launched Messages on Air, a new

service to facilitate communication with tenants and the

public. Under this initiative, 32 messages were produced

for broadcast on radio channels to keep the public

informed of our new policies and services.

The Housing Authority Hotline allows us to hear what our tenants and the

community have to say.

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Newsletters

Our bi-weekly online newsletter, Housing Dimensions,

is produced to cover topics of interest for both our staff

and stakeholders. At the same time, keeping our 1.9

million PRH tenants informed of important housing

issues, local estate news, green initiatives as well as

community and estate events, some one million copies of

the half-yearly Estate Management Advisory Committee

(EMAC) newsletter were published. Summaries of major

stories are also recorded on the Housing Authority (HA)

Hotline, making it possible for residents who are visually

impaired to keep in touch with us.

Cultivating Quality Services

Electronic Communications

A number of initiatives came online during the year,

not only improving communication with but also

enhancing e-services for our customers. At the end of

2008, a new service was launched on our corporate

website, providing access to PRH information to our

tenants, PRH applicants and the public. They can check

their rent payment history, points accrued under the

Marking Scheme for Estate Management Enforcement,

or the status of General Waiting List applications. Tenants

can also make use of a Rent Smart Calculator to estimate

the new rent payable due to foreseeable changes

in family size or household income. Information on the

Business Review

We establish two-way dialogues with our diverse stakeholders through myriad

communication channels.

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Cultivating Quality Services

eligibility criteria for PRH applications was rolled out in

early 2009. Rent Enquiry Kiosks were also installed in

estate offices in early 2009, providing additional access

to rent payment information for tenants. Starting from

2009, updated flat lists for all transfer schemes and the

Express Flat Allocation Scheme have been available on

our corporate website, further facilitating flat selection.

Attesting to the popularity of online communications,

the mini website for the Sale of Surplus Home Ownership

Scheme Flats Phase 4, which included a photo depository

showing the internal conditions of all resale flats,

recorded nearly two million hits during the three-and-a-

half-month sales period from September 2008 onwards.

Our corporate website, which consists of some 20 000

pages of information in English and Chinese, continues to

record an average of about four million hits a month.

Corporate Visits

To foster exchange and experience sharing on housing

matters, we welcome corporate visitors from around

the world. During the year, we received 66 local and

international delegations from governments, housing

bodies, academic institutions and related professional

organisations. Our visitor programmes include seminars,

tours to the Housing Authority Exhibition Centre as well

as visits to PRH estates and construction sites.

In Partnership with the Community Creating Jobs

Facing the challenges brought about by the financial

tsunami and the difficult economic climate, a major

community initiative during the year was our decision

to expedite construction and maintenance projects to

create further employment opportunities within the local

community. Bringing forward three construction projects

as well as shortening the cycle for our maintenance

programme from five years to four years is expected to

create 2 000 more jobs in addition to the current figure of

8 000 jobs in 2009/10.

Caring for the Elderly

Around 2 000 volunteers participated in the Volunteer

for Seniors Day, held on 15 February 2009, to visit more

than 800 elderly tenants in 50 PRH estates. Ms Eva Cheng,

Chairman of the HA, joined the volunteers to show her

care and concern for the elderly. During the visits, the

volunteers distributed gifts while also doing what they

could to help this more vulnerable group of tenants.

Preserving our Housing Heritage

Marking the redevelopment of several historic estates, we

put extra effort into producing documentary videos and

taking photographs to provide a glimpse of life as it used

to be in Shek Kip Mei, So Uk and Lower Ngau Tau Kok

Our Exhibition Centre provides visitors with an overview of public housing

development in Hong Kong.

Tenants can make use of the Rent Enquiry Kiosks to

check their rent payment information.

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Business Review

Estates. These videos and photo images provide a

fond farewell and a memorable gift to outgoing

households. We also worked with a local non-

governmental organisation (NGO) to produce a book

based on oral history records provided by tenants who

used to live in Lower Ngau Tau Kok Estate.

Education and Awareness Programmes

A kick-off ceremony was held at Tin Yuet Estate to launch

a year long educational campaign with regard to the

equitable allocation of public housing resources. Targeted

at EMAC members and PRH tenants, the campaign

included mass media publicity as well as briefings to

explain our policies to combat tenancy abuse and the

need to allocate public housing resources as wisely, fairly

and as rationally as possible. The campaign also aimed

to raise awareness of the value of public housing among

PRH residents and to encourage them to cherish public

housing resources.

A series of educational activities were also organised

within the community to enhance awareness of the

importance of maintenance in public housing and

to encourage tenant cooperation with regard to our

Total Maintenance Scheme. Mobile Education Booths,

operated by our Inspection Ambassadors, provided

information on the proper use and maintenance of

fittings inside flats through the use of colourful displays

and videos. A full set of pamphlets with clear details on

the DOs and DON’Ts in the installation of fittings was also

produced and distributed to tenants.

Recognising Quality Services

Organised jointly by the HA, professional organisations

and government bodies, our annual Quality Public

Housing Construction and Maintenance Awards aims to

recognise outstanding performance in the construction

and maintenance of PRH estates. It also provides a

platform for practitioners to share their experiences in

quality housing improvements. Over 100 awards – for

quality work, environmental protection, occupational

safety and health, ethics and integrity as well as

partnership and customer activities, were presented at

the 2008 event.

About 2 000 volunteers join the Volunteer for Seniors Day 2009 to show their care

for the elderly.

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Cultivating Quality Services

We also held the Estate Management Services

Contractors Awards 2008 to commend service providers

for the delivery of quality services to tenants. A total of

21 outstanding achievement awards were presented

to 12 property services, cleaning, and security services

contractors. A special award entitled Best Property

Services Agent (Safety Management) was presented to a

contractor for his remarkable “zero accident claims”

record during the year.

Empowering our People

In building a lean and dynamic workforce, we evaluate

our requirements regularly, making sure we have the

necessary systems in place to meet new demands and

challenges. During the year, we were able to make

significant progress in this direction with our new

Manpower Strategy, which helped to establish a vibrant,

flexible and sustainable workforce under a harmonious

working environment.

New Manpower Strategy

Our staff force is an invaluable asset. With this in mind,

we have taken organisational needs, staff aspirations

We must empower our staff to meet new demands and challenges.

and public interest into consideration when formulating

a multi-faceted manpower strategy that is fair and

reasonable to the HA, our staff and the community.

This strategy provides a basis for us to move forward

and enables us to resolve various management and

staff issues including rationalisation of the staffing

establishment, timely conduct of recruitment and

promotion exercises, and career development planning

for staff in various ranks and grades. The implementation

of the strategy has also enhanced the job security of

current contract staff, in turn helping us retain a pool of

knowledgeable and dedicated talent.

With the endorsement of this new strategy in October

2008, we have been actively conducting recruitment

exercises to fill some 370 civil service positions. In this

instance, the depressed economic climate has worked in

our favour, providing us with the opportunity to choose

many highly qualified candidates. With the new recruits

expected to start reporting for duty from May 2009, they

will help to enhance our services to the public.

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Business Review

Emphasising Staff Communication

Based on the results of our 2007 Staff Opinion Survey,

we launched a number of initiatives to enhance our

two-way communication with staff. With a major focus

on our housing policies, their substance and rationale,

“e-Summaries” sent through our internal email system

now provide more background information on these

new policies. Better understanding will help to align staff

aspirations with our own goals and objectives, resulting

in more committed staff and improved communication

with the public.

At the same time, moving away from the more normal

top-down communication chain, we are making every

effort to reverse the process, genuinely listening to staff

views. This staff input, on what works best for them

in terms of both tools and processes in their day-to-

day work, has led to a number of improvements and

enhanced efficiencies. Some have been as basic as

changing or simplifying work forms; while others, such

New technologies are adopted to provide high quality services.

as the greater mobility allowed by the use of PDAs, are

considerably more complex.

Building Core Competencies

Training continues to play a crucial role in building a

quality workforce, not only making sure that we lift our

service standards but also that we are able to meet,

manage and triumph over new requirements and

challenges. This is particularly true for us as we seek to

present a more caring face to our tenants, taking their

needs into consideration in the management of our

housing programme. For example, the “neighbourhood

programme” in Tuen Mun showed that frontline staff

needed to exercise greater vigilance in their dealings with

residents. Similar skills can be applied to other areas in

housing management.

Staff must also cope with new and emerging

technologies as well as different ways of doing things.

Our efforts to overhaul and upgrade our Enterprise

Resource Planning system will mean changes to our

established processes and procedures, creating major

changes for our people. We thus have one of the largest

training and development centres in the territory,

offering a range of programmes, which ensure that our

staff not only acquire the necessary job skills, but also the

social and emotional skills, to meet these changes and

carry out their responsibilities both ably and effectively.

Being aware that health and well-being are essential for

the long-term sustainability and performance of a quality

workforce, we conducted a study on Occupational

Safety and Health Practices within the HA. As a result,

we launched an Office Safety Inspection Exercise, with

more than 250 trained Office Safety Inspection Assessors

checking our premises against an established checklist, to

ensure that we provide a quality work environment that

brings out the best in our people.

Our manpower strategy aims to establish a vibrant,

flexible and sustainable workforce.

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Cultivating Quality Services

The Best Use of IT

We continue to make significant investments in IT,

building our infrastructure to enable the development

of new initiatives and establish a framework for further

improvements in our operating environment.

Last October we marked a new era in our IT operations

with the release of the new web-based Non-Domestic

Management System, which ended the use of mainframe

computers in our activities. The launch of internet

services for tenants during the year was another

significant achievement with its provision of both better

and more convenient services for customers. The use of

these services by tenants has been growing steadily and

further web-enabled functions will empower both our

business growth and our customer engagement.

In recent years, new enabling technologies, such as

mobile devices, have provided IT solutions and new

ways to conduct and streamline our business. The

implementation of the Mobile Application System for

Housing Management last year replaces the previous

paper-based Biennial Declaration made by public rental

tenants, greatly saving our staff time and effort. Using

PDAs which contain essential tenant information, staff

are now able to verify information and record findings

instantly during home visits. This mobile solution breaks

the boundaries of traditional IT applications and,

in view of the widespread distribution of our estates

throughout Hong Kong, will significantly improve

services for our tenants.

The Tenant Income Survey System was also rolled out

in December last year to facilitate the development of

the income index, which will track tenant household

incomes in future rent adjustments. Additionally, on-

going improvements to our estate management and

imaging systems have been completed to automate

tenant applications with regard to changes in household

members and temporary stays. This use of imaging

technology in tenancy management will not only

improve efficiency and enhance security, but also reduce

paper consumption significantly.

Looking ahead, the effective use of such technologies

will enable us to better monitor our operations, identify

trends, facilitate analyses and forecasts, and enhance the

making of business decisions.

Frontline staff can use a PDA to record findings instantly

during home visits.

The application of mobile technologies significantly improves our services in view

of the widespread distribution of our estates.

Industrial Awards and Community Recognitions 2008/09獎項 / 得獎項目 Award / Winning Project 頒發機構 Awarding Organisation

建築 Construction

英國特許建造學會2008/09國際創新及研究獎項優異獎(建築及測量組) —「香港可持續發展公屋的微氣候研究」

CIOB International Innovation and Research Awards 2008/09Highly Commended Architectural and Surveying Innovation Award – “Micro-climate Studies for Sustainable Public Housing Development in Hong Kong”

英國特許建造學會Chartered Institute of Buildings (CIOB)

卓越結構大獎2008嘉許獎 — 葵涌工廠大厦重建項目的設計和建造

Structural Special Award 2008Commendation Award – Design & Construction of Redevelopment of Kwai Chung Flatted Factory

香港工程師學會結構分部及 英國結構工程師學會

Joint Structural Division of TheHong Kong Institution of Engineers and The Institution of Structural Engineers, UK

2008公德地盤嘉許計劃優異獎(新建工程) — 彩雲道3B1期地盤

Considerate Contractors Site Award Scheme 2008Merit Award (New Works) – Contract for the Construction of Choi Wan Road Site 3B Phase 1

發展局Development Bureau

環保 Environmental

2008年度環保建築大獎研究及規劃類別」優異獎 — 「香港可持續發展公屋的微氣候研究」

Green Building Award 2008Merit Award (Research and Planning Category) – “Micro-climate Studies for Sustainable Public Housing Development in Hong Kong”

香港環保建築專業議會Hong Kong Professional Green Building Council

減廢標誌機構卓越級別」獎賞 — 房屋委員會

Hong Kong Awards for Environmental Excellence“Class of Excellence” Wastewi$e Label – Housing Authority

環境及自然保育基金Environmental and Conservation Fund

廢物源頭分類計劃」2008宣傳推廣大獎 — 廣褔邨銅獎 — 麗瑤、橫頭磡、鯉魚門及廣褔邨證書 — 逾60多個公共屋邨

Source Separation of Waste Award 2008Award for Promotion – Kwong Fuk Estate Basic Awards (Bronze) – Lai Yiu, Wang Tau Hom, Lei Yue Mun and Kwong Fuk Estates Certificate of Merit – over 60 PRH estates

環境保護署、香港物業管理公司協會、 香港生產力促進局

Environmental Protection Department, Hong Kong Association of Property Manager Companies and Hong Kong Productivity Council

廢物源頭分類:至叻家庭大比拼」亞軍 — 友愛邨

Source Separation of Waste Model Family Award First Runner-up – Yau Oi Estate

環境保護署、「Take me Home」生活區報

Environmental Protection Department and Take me Home

2009年香港花卉展覽最佳設計（園林景點）大獎 — 房屋委員會

Hong Kong Flower Show 2009Winner of Award for Design Excellence (Landscape Display) – Housing Authority

康樂及文化事務署Leisure and Cultural Services Department

2008/09年度所獲業界獎項及社會嘉許

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Industrial Awards and Community Recognitions 2008/092008/09年度所獲業界獎項及社會嘉許

獎項 / 得獎項目 Award / Winning Project 頒發機構 Awarding Organisation

機構 Corporate

2008年申訴專員嘉許獎獲獎公職人員優異服務組別 — 陳惠蓮 (副房屋事務經理 / 物業管理(新翠）)投訴處理組別 — 林均柏 (房屋事務經理 / 職系管理（一）)

Ombudsman Awards 2008 for Officers of Public OrganisationsGeneral Nomination Category – Miss Rose CHAN Wai-lin, Assistant Housing Manager/ Property (Sun Chui) Complaint-related Category – Mr LAM Kwan-pak, Housing Manager/ Grade Management (1)

香港申訴專員公署Office of The Ombudsman

同心展關懷」機構 2008/2009房屋署Caring Organisation 2008/2009Housing Department

香港社會服務聯會Hong Kong Council of Social Service

無障礙優異網站獎2008 金獎 — 房屋委員會/房屋署網站

Web Care Award 2008Gold Prize – Housing Authority / Housing Department Web Site

互聯網專業協會Internet Professional Association

資訊科技 Information Technology

能力成熟度模式整合」第三級認證

Capability Maturity Model Integration for Software DevelopmentMaturity Level 3 Accreditation

美國國防部委託卡內基美隆大學的軟件工程學院

Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, USA

香資訊及通訊科技獎2008最佳公共服務應用(電子化) 獎 (銅獎) — 外展房屋管理系統

Hong Kong ICT Awards 2008 Best Public Service Application (Transformation) Award (Bronze) – Mobile Application System on Housing Management (MASHM)

香港電腦學會Hong Kong Computer Society