Sun Yuhua: Nearly 49,000 people received new baby rewards by the end of June, involving a total amount of approximately 9.79 billion Hong Kong dollars.

Hong Kong announced a new baby bonus plan in the 2023 Policy Address, providing a cash reward of 20,000 Hong Kong dollars to babies born from October 25, 2023. Secretary for Labor and Welfare of Hong Kong, Law Suk-han, stated in a written response to a Legislative Council member's question that as of the end of June this year, the Hong Kong government has received a total of 49,567 eligible applications and has disbursed the bonus to 48,984 applicants, with a total amount of about 979 million Hong Kong dollars. Law Suk-han mentioned that in terms of public housing allocation, the Housing Authority implemented the "First Born Priority Allocation Scheme" on April 1 of last year. As of the end of June this year, around 5000 public housing applications have had their waiting time reduced by 1 year under this scheme, with approximately 420 successful allocations for move-in. He also stated that during the "T-Home 2024" application period, the Housing Authority received around 106,000 applications, with about 50,000 applications from families. Among them, approximately 19,000 applications participated in the "Senior Priority Selection Scheme" and the "First Born Priority Selection Scheme," accounting for about 40% of family applicants, with around 800 applicants successfully purchasing units through the "First Born Priority Selection Scheme."