Chief Executive John Lee on Saturday held a Policy Address consultation session with more than 100 people, with many urging the administration to boost housing supply and step up its efforts to attract talent to the city.

During the two-hour session in Tsuen Wan, several participants, including representatives of public committees, told Lee and members of his cabinet that the authorities should tackle Hong Kong's brain drain, low birth rate and ageing population.

Lee said he agreed the SAR needed to be more proactive in scouting for talent from overseas and the mainland.

"Hong Kong would definitely be competing to secure talent – high-quality talent that is unavailable in Hong Kong, especially in the IT and medical sectors, as well as other high-end [industries]," he said.

He stressed that the government also values local talent, and said more applied subjects were needed for students to develop their skills in a diversified manner.

Meanwhile, Mr Lee added that his administration would look into any new ideas for building more public housing units.

He was responding to proposals that included building flats on the fringes of country parks and building transitional housing with more storeys.

"We're all concerned about the housing issues; that's why I've set up two task forces which are action-oriented and are not committees that just have meetings and empty talks," he said.

"Topics that have been mentioned, like transitional housing and renewal plans are on our radar and being assessed."