Subsidized Housing Policy Transfer: From Liberal-interventionist Hong Kong to Marketized Socialist Shenzhen

Abstract

This paper contributes to the comparative housing and policy transfer scholarship by analysing marketized-socialist Shenzhen’s processes of transferring liberal-interventionist Hong Kong’s subsidized housing policy between 1988 and 2020 and by explaining the transfer trajectory and policy outcomes. Data were collected from in-depth interviews, published policy documents and site visits. Applying policy transfer concepts, the study reveals that the transfer evolved from almost wholesale transplant to self-policy development, then lately signs of re-convergence emerged. Overall, Shenzhen utilises more market resources and regulatory tools in subsidy provision but operates a much smaller public housing sector than Hong Kong. The transfer trajectory and policy outcomes are rooted in incompatibility and changes in policy contextual environment, specifically socio-economic functions of housing policy and the cities’ jurisdictional and spatial scales; and in policy operational environments: differences in planning governance, tenure policy and housing finance model. Temporality is essential for understanding policy transfer and its efficacy.