Wan Chai Votes to Redirect Revenue for Elderly Care and Family Services

The Wan Chai Community Services Referendum, scheduled for 15 July, asks residents to approve a rates adjustment that would shift HK$48 million from general district funds into targeted community programs over the next three years.

The measure follows the release of the 2025 Wan Chai District Council annual report, which recorded a 14 percent rise in applications for subsidized home care services between 2023 and 2025. District officials have stated that current allocations under the Social Welfare Department block grant have not kept pace with the increase in single-elderly households in the area.

How the Levy Change Would Reach Local Households

If approved, the adjustment would apply to rates bills issued from the 2026-27 financial year onward. The legislation specifies that the redirected amount must support three named programs: the Wan Chai Elderly Day Care Centre at 12 Harbour Road, the family counseling units at the Jockey Club Wan Chai Integrated Family Service Centre, and after-school tutoring sites run by the district youth outreach teams. Property owners in the 3,800 rated tenements along Hennessy Road and Gloucester Road would see the change itemized on their quarterly statements.

Residents using the services would encounter expanded operating hours at the Harbour Road centre, with an additional 120 places per week projected under the government costings attached to the referendum paper. The same document lists the addition of two Cantonese-speaking social workers at the family service centre, funded directly from the rates transfer rather than from the central Social Welfare Department budget.

Funding Figures and Implementation Timeline

The referendum proposal draws its baseline figure from the 2025 district rates collection total of HK$312 million recorded by the Rating and Valuation Department. Under the measure, 15.4 percent of that collection would move into a ring-fenced community services account, a proportion set out in clause 4 of the draft order published on the Wan Chai District Council website on 2 June. If voters approve the change, the Treasury has indicated the first transfer would occur in October 2026, with quarterly reporting to the district council finance committee thereafter.

Voters will mark their ballots at 14 polling stations located inside community halls and public housing estates across the district. The Electoral Affairs Commission has confirmed that results will be declared by 20 July, after which the district council must pass a formal resolution to enact the rates adjustment before the next billing cycle begins in September.