Neglected by the government and ignored by society, Hong Kong’s elderly are becoming poorer and poorer... and they’re now resorting to desperate measures. By Shirley Zhao. Images by Brett Elmer 

Trudging down a street in Sham Shui Po while carrying a large bag and pushing a small trolley loaded with cardboard, Chan Wah-tai reaches her third bin. She rummages out some plastic bottles and boxes. “These are worth six dollars at most,” the 78-year-old estimates. “I’m going to have to find some more.”

Chan lives with her husband in a government-subsidised apartment in Sham Shui Po. They are retired and their two sons, who have difficulty supporting their own families, give them several hundred to a few thousand dollars once or twice a year. The only stable income they receive is a monthly $2,070 ‘old-age allowance’ from the government which, according to Chan, is barely enough to survive on. She has no other choice but to scavenge for cardboard boxes and plastic bottles to earn more money.

“In better days I could earn 20 dollars’ worth,” she says. “But nowadays more and more people are out collecting waste paper too. It’s hard to get that kind of money.”

In Hong Kong the poverty rate of people aged 65 and older is by far the highest among all age groups. With the government expected to unveil a new budget next month, social groups are calling for a review on the social welfare system in order to give elderly Hong Kong citizens better support.

According to statistics released by the Hong Kong Council of Social Service (HKCSS) at the end of 2011, poverty among the elderly has been steadily growing. From January to June last year, 33.4 percent – one in every three senior citizens – was ‘living in poverty’. Given the plummeting birth rate, HKCSS expects to see 2.5 million elderly people by 2036, amounting to 28 percent of the total population.

“The poverty issue among the elderly in Hong Kong is becoming more and more serious,” says Chua Hoi-wai, business director of HKCSS’s Policy Research and Advocacy department. “A large number of middle-aged people are taking jobs with low pay, such as cleaners and security guards. And more young people are unwilling or have difficulty with supporting their aging parents.” The current pension system includes three types of financial support – Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA); old-age allowance; and the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF). Chua says each method has its own shortcomings in supporting the elderly. CSSA is considered the most important. According to HKCSS, from 2000 to 2010 the number of elderly people receiving CSSA increased 20 percent from 150,000 to 190,000. Under the scheme, a single elderly person who has capital assets (such as property, bank savings or stock investments) worth less than $36,000 will be qualified to receive social security, normally around $2,500 per month.

However, Josephine Wong, a social worker at Chan Kwan Tung Social Centre for the Elderly in Sham Shui Po, tells Time Out that even though some elderly people are impoverished, they do not apply for CSSA. According to Wong, if elderly people are living with their children or other family members who have salaries, it would be ‘almost impossible’ for them to qualify for the scheme unless their children quit their jobs and the entire family applies together. For elderly people who don’t live with their children, they need to ask their child to sign a so-called ‘bad-son statement’ which states that an offspring will not provide financial support. “Nobody wants to be called a bad son,” says Wong, “so many children don’t sign this statement, and many parents obviously feel reluctant to ask them in the first place.”

“I’m not applying for social security, I have children!” says ‘Ms Lau’ defiantly. The 81-year-old lives alone in Sham Shui Po on ‘some money given to me from time to time’ by her son and daughter. Lau also scavenges for bottles and cardboard to earn extra cash. She refuses to say how much her children give her, but agrees they ‘are poor themselves’.

The old-age allowance covers those aged 65 to 69 with a monthly income of less than $6,450, as well as every permanent resident aged 70 and older. It normally provides $1,035 for a single elderly person each month. Chua says the amount is too little, and that elderly people are not allowed to apply for both CSSA and an old-age allowance at the same time. Meanwhile, the MPF scheme, an employment-related mandatory saving scheme for retirement, remains a highly controversial issue in Hong Kong. According to Chua, few elderly people get support from the MPF as it takes ‘a long time’ for any employee to save a sizeable amount of money. The scheme also doesn’t cover citizens such as housewives, and it can barely support other citizens with low salaries. The government started the scheme in December 2000, meaning those who retired before or around this date are ineligible.

The Alliance for Universal Pensions currently estimates that 30 percent of the total population of Hong Kong is still not covered by the MPF scheme.What briefly cheered the elderly last year was the government handout of $6,000 to every Hong Kong permanent resident. “It did help a bit,” says 67-year-old Chiu Yee-lan who lives alone with no children. “I received my money in November, which means I can now eat better for the next three months.” But Chiu wants the government to create a long-term pension system. “These days everything is insanely expensive. You will use up your $6,000 very quickly and then what? Social security is barely enough.” Chua says that instead of handing out cash the government should use the money to fund a long-term comprehensive system. For years, many groups have been calling for a universal pension system that covers the population. But there are concerns a universal system could lead to a tax hike. It may even put Hong Kong ‘on the road to fiscal hell, a high-tax European-style welfare state’, according to independent online think-tank webb-site.com. According to the site, if the government paid each citizen aged 65 or older $4,000 a month, it would cost HK$43 billion this year alone, and would rise to HK$119 billion by 2039.

But Chua thinks the government can afford to pay elderly citizens $3,000 a month. “This is still far less than in other countries,” he says. “It all depends on whether we want to tackle the poverty issue. The government should draft a proposal and then we can discuss how to make it work.” Unfortunately, a pension plan will not appear in next month’s budget. Outgoing chief executive Donald Tsang has stated that he will not touch on the topic, but 2012 chief executive candidates Henry Tang and Leung Chun-ying have both expressed their eagerness to discuss a universal pension. All the elderly can do is remain optimistic that a proposal can be realised during the next chief executive’s tenure.