How to Apply

Applicant households must note the following:

1. Applications must be made on a "household"¹ basis, and no restriction is imposed on the relationship between household members.
2. For a household with more than one member, an eligible adult² among the members should be designated as the applicant to make the application. Other household member(s) should sign on the application form to give consent for the designated applicant to apply on their behalf. For household members who are under the age of 18, their parent/guardian (must be a Hong Kong resident who is at the age of 18 or above) is required to make a declaration and sign on their behalf. For eligible household members who are incapable of managing their own affairs or mentally incapacitated, their agent³ or legal guardian⁴ (must be a Hong Kong resident who is at the age of 18 or above) is required to make a declaration and sign on their behalf. Should the application be successful, the subsidy for all eligible household members will be disbursed to the designated applicant (e.g. the designated applicant of a two-person household will receive HK$9,000 of subsidy).
3. Applicants should submit one application only during the application period. Multiple applications from the same applicant / household member will be voided and lead to delay in processing application and disbursement of allowance. Withdrawal of the application, once submitted, is not allowed unless for exceptional reasons. All information and documents submitted for application under the Programme will not be returned.
4. At the time of submitting an application, applicants are required to declare on the application form that the average monthly household income in the past three months does not exceed the income limit applicable to the relevant household size, while the submission of relevant documentary proof of income is not required⁵.
5. Applicants are required to declare that they and their household members are residing in the accommodation as shown in the Local Residential Address field under Part 1 of the application form on the application date (except the parents residing in non-subsidised places of private residential care homes for the elderly / household members residing in non-subsidised places of private residential care homes for persons with disabilities / university student hostels) and that the accommodation is a type covered under the Programme.
6. Applicants who rent accommodation in private housing, industrial buildings, commercial buildings or social housing are required to note the following:
1. each rent receipt^{6 and 7} shall be used by only one household for application purpose. The rented accommodation shown on the rent receipt must be the same as the local residential address indicated in Part 1 of the application form. Applicants are required to declare that the average monthly rent of the accommodation in the past three months does not exceed the rent limit applicable to the relevant household size;
2. applicants who fail to provide a rent receipt as proof are required to provide a self-declaration⁸ to declare that they and their household members are tenants of the accommodation in private housing, industrial buildings, commercial buildings or social housing as indicated in the application form, and to provide the reason(s) for failing to provide a rent receipt; and
3. the rented accommodation must not be a property owned by the father, mother, son, daughter, husband or wife of the applicant and/or of the applicant's household members. Applicants and their household members are required to declare that the criterion has been met.
7. Applicants who are street sleepers must declare that they have been sleeping on the street for at least seven consecutive days as at the submission date of the application.
8. Applicants and their household members must declare that they are not CSSA recipients.
9. Applicants and their household members must declare that they do not own a property in Hong Kong.
10. Applicants and their household members must declare that they do not belong to those persons who have entered Hong Kong not for the purpose of settlement, and/or those who have demonstrated to the satisfaction of the Immigration Department (ImmD) that they have adequate financial means to sustain their living in Hong Kong before they are issued with a visa / entry permit by the ImmD (applicable to those who are not Hong Kong permanent residents).
11. For eligible persons under the age of 18, if their household members are ineligible for the Programme (e.g. two-way permit holders or CSSA recipients), their parent/guardian (must be a Hong Kong resident who is at the age of 18 or above) can make an application on their behalf and collect the subsidy for them when their eligibility under the Programme has been confirmed (please contact the Secretariat on 2180 6666 for appropriate arrangements).
12. For eligible persons who are incapable of managing their own affairs or mentally incapacitated, if their household members are ineligible for the Programme, their agent or legal guardian (must be a Hong Kong resident who is at the age of 18 or above) can make an application on their behalf and collect the subsidy for them when their eligibility under the Programme has been confirmed (please contact the Secretariat on 2180 6666 for appropriate arrangements).

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Eligible applicant households¹ are required to submit their individual application forms according to their household sizes by phases² from 2 July to 30 November 2020 (application period) as follows:

From 2 July 2020 onwards	To submit new applications (for one-person households)
From 3 August 2020 onwards	To submit new applications (for two-person households)
From 1 September 2020 onwards	To submit new applications (for three-person households)
From 5 October 2020 onwards	To submit new applications (for all eligible households (irrespective of the household size))
30 November 2020	End of the application period

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Applicant households are required to submit their application forms together with all the required documents to the respective service units near their residences by post or in person to facilitate the submission of supplementary information if necessary and/or the arrangement of home visit by the service unit:

General households	Please submit your application to service units accepting general applications
Households with elders only (i.e. all members in the household are at the age of 60 or above)	Please submit your application to elderly service units
Households with young people only (i.e. all members in the household are at the age of 24 or under)	Please submit your application to youth service units
Homeless persons	Please submit your application to service units accepting applications from homeless persons

If your application is made by post, please ensure that the address of the service unit shown on the envelope is correct and sufficient postage is paid before posting. If there is insufficient postage, application forms will not be delivered to the service unit and applications will not be processed. To avoid any delay, please also write the correspondence address of the applicant at the back of the envelope. Please do not submit applications by fax or by email.

Applicant households are required to submit copies of the following required documents:

1. Hong Kong Identity Cards¹ of the applicant and all household members (may produce the original copies at the service units if submitting application in person);
2. (if applicable) receipts for renting accommodation in private housing, an industrial building, a commercial building or social housing; or a "Certificate of Participation – Tenant" for renting accommodation under the T-Home "Letting Scheme for Subsidised Sale Developments with Premium Unpaid" (the status of one of the household members as the tenant of the accommodation concerned, the residential address and the monthly rent must be shown);
3. (if applicable) documentary proof of staying in the following hostels / shelters (e.g. rent receipts or the proof of occupancy issued by the hostels / shelters):
1. bedspaces provided under the HAD's Singleton Hostel Programme;
2. hostel bedspaces provided by NGOs for rehabilitated offenders;
3. emergency / temporary shelters, hostels or short-term hostels operated by NGOs;² or
4. Po Tin Transit Centre in Tuen Mun or Lung Tin Transit Centre in Tai O operated by the Housing Department;
4. (if applicable) documentary proof of a parent residing in a non-subsidised place of a private residential care home for the elderly, or of a household member residing in a non-subsidised place of a private residential care home for persons with disabilities (e.g. a receipt of fee or the proof of occupancy issued by the residential care home); documentary proof of household members residing in a university student hostel (e.g. a receipt for hostel fees or the proof of occupancy issued by the university)；
5. (if applicable) for a household member who is incapable of managing his/her own affairs³ or mentally incapacitated⁴: supporting documents to prove that the household member concerned is incapable of managing his/her own affairs or mentally incapacitated (e.g. a certificate of appointment issued by the court or a certificate issued by a locally registered medical practitioner); and
6. for an applicant who chooses to receive the subsidy through bank transfer⁵: documentary proof of a bank account (e.g. the page of a passbook showing the name of the account holder, or a bank statement, etc.).

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