Third sector housing as a social innovation in Hong Kong: a qualitative study

Abstract

This article focuses on the recent re-emergence of third sector housing in Hong Kong, which is at the beginning of a transitional stage from a phase of being crowded out by public housing to a phase of playing a complementary role to other housing sectors in the housing arena. It aims to explore third sector housing in this transitional stage as a socially innovative approach to address Hong Kong’s housing issues. A stakeholder-centred, interview-based and qualitative data collection approach is adopted to examine holistically the different facets of social innovation in relation to such third sector housing efforts. On the basis of interview findings, it is found that recent third sector housing endeavours are a multifaceted innovation, essentially comprising innovation in terms of seven dimensions, namely concepts, resources, delivery, social relations, objectives, advocacy and mentality. The study on which this article is based distinguishes itself by investigating a case of multidimensional housing innovation in the Asian context of Hong Kong.