Imagine coming back home after a long day at work and your house is no bigger than the cubicle you just spent 8 hours in - Hong Kong's 'coffin homes' are no stranger to this concept.
(No 'room' for claustrophobics. Literally!)
The cramped spaces of the coffin homes and their suffocating nature truly makes one believe they are being buried alive. Due to Hong Kong's economy skyrocketing over the years, the housing costs have shot through the roof. This led to the poorer section of the society to adapt to the sudden change in their lifestyles. Hence, coffin homes came into being.?
These homes are no bigger than 180 square feet and the people living there are mostly retirees with small to no pension, working poor, drug addicts or people with mental illnesses, people who are under the poverty line (citizens who earn less than HK$4,000/month (approximately Rs 38,400), or families of four with a household income of under HK$19,900/month (approximately Rs 1,91,000).
Usually, these structures are illegally divided apartments which house roughly 15 owners. Aside from a bed, and other furniture people can manage to squeeze in, residents share a communal bathroom and kitchen, mostly in unsanitary conditions. They pay almost HK$2,400/month (approximately Rs 23,000) for these tighly-packed boxes that become someone's home.?
According to a research conducted by students at the University of Hong Kong, some of the buildings housed up to six times the number of people they were originally designed for. This increases the chances of disease outbreak and potential fire incidents.?
Hong Kong's coffin home problem is often labelled as a humanitarian and health crisis. The United Nations called it an "insult to human dignity".
Aside from the metropolitan area's growing economy, the rapidly ageing population is another factor that adds to the coffin home situation in Hong Kong. Since elderly people struggle to make ends meet, they have to resort to living in these godless conditions.?
The most expensive city in the world has housed its poor citizens in the most inhumane way possible.?