A glimpse inside Hong Kong’s notorious subdivided homes 

making a room on top of a shared bathroom is borderline criminal

by looking at their living conditions, I start to appreciate my life right now.

The housing condition is abhorrent and unthinkable. My heart breaks for the elderly who has to struggle and suffer like this.

This is literally breaking my heart. 7 families had to use one kitchen AND 1 bathroom.

Putting aside judgmental comments...I really appreciate this recreation of the display unit, which gives so much insights and awareness...

I grew up in a single family dwelling in the US with my relatives. At its peak we shared our house with up to 11 people so in similar ways it felt like a subdivided flat. But there’s a huge difference. In a house with detached walls, there are windows everywhere and backyard space for fresh air. It was not fun sharing a bedroom with my 2 aunts and younger sister. It was not fun not having a living room or dining room (no common space to gather except in the kitchen), but it felt so spacious compared to these coffins. Those attic rooms really are coffins.

That attic room above the toilet should be listed as a torture room.

This is so sad. When I was young, I lived in what we considered a small apartment (around 35m2) with my mum, I had my own room and my mum slept in the living room. I considered myself unlucky for living in such a small space. Pity I hadn't seen this document back than, it would make me more thankful for the living space we had.

It's really insane how HK government even allowed this to happen.

The housing issue has always been a lifelong struggle for the poor in Hong Kong. As land is such a commodity here. It's not unusual for a luxury estate to be situated right next to government rented flats and only separated by a walkway. I mocked that as "a bridge too far"!. For one to apply for a government (public) flat, the waiting time can be at least 5 to 8 years. Those who are still waiting to move into a public flat may only afford to rent one of these, mainly illegally operated, subdivided flats. The gap between the rich and the poor continues to widen in this city, and personally, I don't think this story will ever end!

7 households shared 1 kitchen and 1 bathroom?! That's insane. I can't even arange myself with my one roommate without getting in each others way. I feel really sorry for those people. The goverment should be fixing this issue asap and not in 20 years. Just looking at those attic rooms makes me feel claustrophobic.

This left my speechless. My heart goes out for everyone living like this.

Shame on you Hong Kong government 😢how dare you treat poor people like animals!

The prices are insane for such an atrocity

Hong Kong has serious housing problems. In contrast Singapore which is smaller than Hong Kong, does not have such housing problems. There's adequate comfortable housing for most Singaporeans. Hong Kong should seriously look into ways of how to solve the pressing housing problems for these poor people.

This is due to powerful political powers in HK made up of real estate capitalist tycoons. Because land is small and scarce, they usually give more priorities to ultra wealthy people who can pay much more. Meanwhile the poor are given essentially "the scraps"- which is why we see so many photos of cramped up, almost inhumane, living spaces there. There is an incredible amount of wealth inequality in HK. I hope the HK people can stand up to a better quality of life 🙏🏻

This is absolutely nostalgic. Noone knew any better. It was just life. I vividly remember just staying outdoors because it was incredibly boiling hot.

I live in a pretty ordinary 2 storeyed house in a third world country but this video makes me feel like I live in a castle.

Those heartless landlords deserved to be jailed for creating misery for human beings. Who are they? Or are they from other planets? What goes around comes around. The Hong Kong government is also at fault allowed this kind of terrible living conditions to exist.

I’ve lived in HK for over 30 years, and it’s been like this all this time, nothings changed, and nothing will. The government says they care, but they don’t. It’s disgusting to treat ppl like this, and especially in a rich city like HK.

Not sure if this can be seen clearly but those cubicle rooms don't actually have full walls. There's a portion of the room that is open to the hallway and other cubicles. Basically you hear everything.

I sometimes like to watch videos about these homes just to make me feel more grateful for my living conditions.

I feel so sad when seeing this kind of living environment😔

I was on vacation in HK back in 2019 for 5 days. The place I stayed at was set up like this. The room is so small that I'm having a hard time moving around. The bed is connected to the bathroom. The only consolation I had was that I have my own bathroom and air-conditioning.

This shows Singapore success in its HDB project providing affordable for its residence where the price is controlled by the govt.

I'd rather not having children than letting my kid staying at such place..

That picture at 5:06 is surprisingly beautiful. One always finds something where is so much of everything.

These are absolutely unimaginable prices! For example, in my country (before the start of terrible events) for $200 you could rent an old apartment in an average city. Let it be an old apartment, but it would be with all amenities and an area of at least 40 square meters (but in practice it is always much more).

Im getting claustrophobic just from watching this. Also i enjoy taking looong showers the idea of sharing it between 7 people is just so stressful

When I was an undergrad in Seoul, Korea in 2014, my relatively spacious one-room flat only costed $350/month, and only had to pay a 2-month advance for the security deposit (which I got back when my contract ended). The flat is literally a single, spacious room with everything in it: bathroom, kitchen, medium-size refrigerator, work table, and bed. Because there was enough space, I can even hang my clothes on metal bars surrounding my bed so no need for storage cabinets. There were small storage cabinets in the kitchen and for shoes. A couple on a tight budget can live with dignity in such a flat. I consider myself lucky that I was able to find such a home for 4 years in a prime student location in Seoul.

There is a similar trend in the United States. In Alaska it is common to take double wide mobile homes and subdivide them into 8-10 bedrooms. One bath and One kitchen. Rooms go between $400 -$700 per month In Alaska and over in Honolulu Hawaii they also take three bedroom apartments and turn them into six bedroom apartments. One bathroom and one kitchen apartments. Rooms go between $500-$700 per month. They are popular with migrant workers and people just coming off homelessness and college students. Some are college students only.

It's heartbreaking and horrifying to see how people are forced to live in these and the cage homes.

They should also have an exhibit of cage houses and organise tours to see the tens of thousands of homeless people living in parks, stadiums and tunnels. Tour guide should also show the barriers set up by the government to prevent homeless people from sleeping on park benches and under the bridges etc

Governments in cities should allocate residential space for elderly. Housing should not be driven by greed. Like food it is a basic necessity

Back in uni I used to work as a handyman and a fixer upper. Had this client (European, but not going to disclose nationality) who had me work on a two room flat. The madman actually made the bedroom above the bathroom and wanted me to do the insulation so the humidity doesn't reach the person sleeping above (more so as not to cause structural issues later on). I straight out refused that job.

7 households shared one kitchen? That is insane just to even have 2 households.

The HK govt knew about these conditions for decades, but did nothing about it. ridiculous!

imagine this during LOCKDOWN

I cant begin to understand the amount of stress living in such a small space with strangers. My heart breaks for them

I don't know why ppl always compare Hongkong to Singapore. They are in completely different level. Hongkong can't even provide basic housing to its residents.

my goodness. my grandmother rents out more space to one person for only equivalent to $89 per month in my country and each room at least has a small latrine and kitchenette

I have lived in a fair few shared houses in the UK in my time, and visited many more when trying to find the next place to stay. The least salubrious place I ever lived in would come close to the 'best' of the rooms shown here (single lady with window): One bathroom and one kitchen shared between 4 rooms, each housing 1 person (there was an additional toilet downstairs, so less queueing). We did have a proper lounge though, and two fridges, there was also a garden (and a garage for storage). It was the best I could afford at the time, and there were other places that were closer to this (although not the attic rooms) that I viewed. I have also had friends who have lived in properties that were closer to the HK one, especially in/around London. The thing that saddens me about this video is the types of people who were living there: We were all students/trainees at the time, and so living conditions weren't as important, to be in these conditions as an elderly couple doesn't bear thinking about.

I've seen videos on US prisons cells that are so much more modern and spacious than these homes. Even singapore is small country but prisoners each have there own shower and toilet in there cells. If you live in a box you end up with a box mentality, these people deserve better

A Hong Kong pal couldn't believe how big my flat was in Kenya. Will soon have a house on my own acre.

My family lives in a 92-square-meter rental house that costs only RM 300 (about USD 66). Seeing this video broke my heart, and I feel so grateful for whatever we have.

at first I thought that attic room has its own fridge

Very informative, thanks.

These living conditions are absolutely appalling! I wouldn’t pay one dollar for such accommodations. This is heartbreaking to watch that people spend their lives in such environment! 😢

I've lived in a horrible motel room for years with my family so I can understand some of how these people felt. it does horrid things to your mental, emotional and physical health after a few days

If the British had looked into the housing problems during their rule, or the media had exposed this situation at that time, the people of Hong Kong would be living in much better conditions now.

In Hanoi- Vietnam, subdivided apartments like that still exists in the old quarter area. One family lives in an 10m2 room and some in attic room, they cant even stand up straight.

I was born in a small village in China, we were poor during 70-90,but we ‘be never lived like this situation, I feel so sad for people living in this situation in hongkong

My grandparents and parents used to live in something similar. They have come a long way, sometimes I forget how lucky with a very normal upbringing

Somehow now I feel spacious in my 400 sq feet apartment in Mumbai.

Very interesting documentary. 🙏🙂

Well, at least as Londoner I can see our future. This year first time I have seen couple rooms with no window. One of them was an ensuite but the only window was a bathroom window.

No human being should have to live like that

this whole thing seems like a major fire hazard and death trap

Even poorer South East Asia isn't this bad, that is why living in the provinces/rural areas are better, with modern technology and logistics it is proving much more fulfilling, I personally would dare not live in this kind of cramped and filthy flat myself unless there is war or calamities, their subdivided flats is smaller than my shower and tub room. Moving to the countryside is not that bad as long as you make the livingspace nice, clean and chic. If I was a Hongkonger I'd move to mainland China or ASEAN.

You must admit they made the best with what they had. Really space saving and minimalist

This breaks my heart.

Reminds me a little of the NYC tenament my father grew up in during the 1930s.

As someone who lives in a house with a family of 6 and 1 bathroom, I can imagine how chaotic it must be in the morning. There must be banging on the bathroom door, and Mom yelling that 'you're going to be late for school!'. 😅

Every day may seem hard but I have to be thankful for how I’m living, ain’t no way I’m sharing a pace with 12 folks

If I was elderly and living like this, I would feel like my entire life is an utter failure.

seeing this Im really grateful that me and my 2 siblings and parents have our own rooms and we have 2 bathrooms

That toilet attic room is beyond criminal 🤢

In the U.S. we learn about the overcrowded tenements of the 19th century, with museums in cities like NY that recreated the conditions - this reminds me of that. Even in the U.S. we are facing a housing affordability crisis amongst rising wealth inequality. I believe Americans have generally expected much bigger living quarters than they really need, but this is at the other extreme. Societies could do a much better job regarding how wealth is distributed - over the past few decades, we've seen an unprecedented transfer of wealth from the working class to the very wealthiest, and the hyper-consumerist outlook is not sustainable for this planet.

This is a symbol of shames for such a stellar world class city. It Can’t even provide adequate space for its residents.

I am thankful living in Singapore that even with the smallest Government flat (not counting the rental ones), we live in relative spaciousness ❤

looks worse than a prison cell.

I know someone who does this in melbourne.... he fits 20 students into a space for 3.

theyre starting to do this in canada now, its hard to rent a house within an hour of toronto without it being over $5000 a month or divided between like 3-5 families, when i was a kid in the 90s every house in my neighborhood had a husband and wife and maybe a kid or two living in it and 2 cars in the driveway (barely any cars on the streets), now half the houses have been converted into these rooming houses where they pave over the lawn and theres still like 5 cars on the street in front of each of them, so they have like 10-12 adults living in tiny rooms in a house that was originally built for 2 adults to live with children, its like 1 lane going down the streets and i have to pull over if someone's coming the other way because theres like 5 times as many cars in the neighborhood as there was in the 90s, but thats what happens when your government is big on immigration (so new families are constantly moving in) and big on conservation (so nothing new gets built without it being a decades long multimillion dollar process) i mean im all for 100,000 new families moving in every year, theres tons of room in canada, just please make a plan to zone and build 100,000 new homes for them to live in rather than preserving some forest nobody is using for anything, i learned about the economics of supply and demand when i was 12 surely someone in the federal government sees this too,

7 people shared one small kitchen! WOW 😲

I thank this woman telling us the real truth. I would not know other wise. We like the truth to be told.we learn and grow from this . Less distances from everyone .

The rent is very expensive. What job do they have to be able to afford their rent? In my country 400$ a month can actually make a nice hiuse installment.

Imagine living like this in my country. You must hold your breath to escape the odor.

This seems scary , i wouldn't survive...and that toilet n kitchen being shared by 12 people 😮

My mom and dad used to sleep on Twin size bed ans slept like that. It break my heart.

There are some abuse shelters and homeless shelters in southern United States that are similar to this , , , sad thing some fixed income resthomes will take ideas from this 😞😞

It's hard to think that this flat is one of the nicer examples

its scary to think how fast my city is turning rentals into something similar. theyd be renting shoplots and do divisions thatll literally fit 1 single bed and charges ppl 500. madness

I feel poor but watching this..i am still grateful even though i am living in a small nipa hut in the middle of the farm here in the province of Phil🇵🇭i don’t need to think about the rent,and the electricity is not so expensive here,i feel pity for these old people and the kids🥺

Wow no one should have a room that is worse than living on the street.

Should be shown to all the people who can't possibly share a sink with their spouse or who think every child needs their own room and bathroom. It is so sad that some people have so much and some so little.

The "room" above the attic is insane. Can't imagine living like that.

ive never felt so much appreciation for my life after this vid

It doesn’t look like a museum at all. It still looks as if there are still people living there and they’re just off to work 🙄

2:34 I wish when they converted living costs to USD they would show the average income too. Otherwise it’s really not comparable.

This is crazy. I am grateful to live in my country where you can get 2 storey house (flat) for half approz the proce of the family room.

i feel so lucky i have 6 bathrooms all to myself and over there 12 people have to share 1 bathroom!

Have you ever seen the shared houses and condo units in dubai? This is actually much cleaner and bigger.

Poor kids having to live like that. A small private apartment must seem like a luxury :(

This is how our family lived back in Vietnam. We had three family in a two bedroom

And in many other places in the world, these rental amounts would get you a decent if not a nice space. HK is crazy expensive.

For many Europeans this sounds like a distant country where things like this happen as something normal. But in 2001 I went to work and live in Dublin, Ireland, and when I first arrived we were 13 people in a 3 bedroom house with only 1 toilet/shower room and a small kitchen unit to be shared by all 13 of us. After a few weeks 2 of us moved into a "better" accommodation which consisted of 1 single room divided into 3 parts by a curtain. We only had 2 beds, 2 chairs, a small table, sink and a microwave. There was again a single shower room/toilet located between the floors to be shared by 4 flats/rooms. We had no washing machine so had to hand wash our clothes in a small kitchen sink. There was no dryer or a place to dry your clothes, no iron, no oven or a cooker, no kettle.... Have you ever had to buy frozen pizza and microwave it? It's disgusting.... There was this "electric meter" thing and we had to feed it with 1 Punt coins (Irish currency at the time) to be able to have electric power in the room.... And people feel sorry for those in Honk Kong...

I strongly believe that although HK is heavily overcrowded, a solution for better living conditions could be found. But anywhere in the world, anybody cares for the lower classes. In HK the living are literally sharing their living space with the dead. The cemeteries are more or less positioned right next to people`s housing. When we take a look at the US, the so-called richest country in the world, we can see that people are living on the streets and in underground tunnels like rats. It`s a disgrace. While some people are buying diamond necklaces for their cats and dogs, others have to fight to survive. while people in the Collective West are tossing tons and tons of food down the drain, elsewhere in the world people are dying of hunger. Problems exist to be solved. But if people don`t care for each other, this society will soon collapse and we`ll see the Mad Max syndrome unfold in front of our eyes. Some are already there but it has to affect the rich people in order to turn the steering wheel around and save humanity from a total collapse.

After visiting Hong Kong and Kowloon a few years ago I can understand why people live like this, there is so little land and so many people.

Heart melting😢

Better to sleep in the park than the toilet attic