The government is launching a new pilot scheme to subsidise elderly welfare recipients to live in care homes in Guangdong, while it will also expand an existing subsidy programme to include more facilities in the province.

Chief Executive John Lee said in his new Policy Address that a three-year pilot programme will allow up to 1,000 elderly people who are currently receiving Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) to receive monthly subsidies of HK$5,000 to live in designated residential care homes in Guangdong.

The existing Residential Care Services Scheme in Guangdong, meanwhile, will be expanded, with seven more residential homes joining the programme in November 2024.

The government is also providing more help to needy elderly people who want to remain in Hong Kong.

Lee said there will be a 20-percent increase in the number of vouchers given out to elderly people in need of care, but are still waiting for a subsidised spot in a home.

Six-thousand vouchers will be given out to allow beneficiaries to be admitted to homes of their choice without the need to wait further.

The Chief Executive also announced other poverty-alleviation measures in his Policy Address, including more than doubling the number of schools offering after-school care services for primary students to allow their parents to work; and expanding its existing “Strive and Rise” programme, where underprivileged children are matched up with mentors.

The School-based After-School Care Service Scheme will increase from 50 to over 110 schools, Lee said, and more schools will be encouraged to join, such that there’s no planned cap to the number of students who can benefit from the programme.

An additional 100 day child care services will be provided at new child care centre, and service places under the Neighbourhood Support Child Care Project will be increased by 25 percent, to 2,500.