房协昨日表示，正面临有史以来的建屋高峰期，未来已规划25个项目，将兴建4.5万伙房屋单位，未来十年将建3.5万伙。这一好消息令人欣喜。在“爱国者治港”的今天，特区政府将满足市民对美好生活的需求当成施政目标，担当作为，切实改进工作作风，实现让市民“住得更宽敞一些”、早日“告别㓥房”的目标，不再是梦！

　　香港累积不少社会深层次问题，房屋问题是其中最棘手的。香港置业和租金负担已持续多年位居全球第一位，公屋平均轮候时间一度超过6年，现时虽降至5.5年，但与政府承诺的“3年上楼”目标仍然有相当大的距离。另外，香港还有20多万人住在转身都困难且充满安全隐患的㓥房，这类港式“贫民窟”与周边鳞次栉比的摩天大厦构成鲜明的反差。㓥房的存在，是社会贫富悬殊的缩影，也是香港作为发达经济体的耻辱，更埋下社会不安的种子，香港在这方面有着深刻的教训。

　　中央高度重视香港房屋问题，中央领导人的心与香港民心是相通的。国家主席习近平在去年七一香港庆祝回归二十五周年典礼上发表重要讲话，提到“当前，香港最大的民心，就是盼望生活变得更好，盼望房子住得更宽敞一些”，他要求特区政府务实有为，不负人民。港澳办主任夏宝龙两年前为香港解决房屋问题订出时间表，表示香港要在国家实现第二个百年奋斗目标、亦即2049年前“告别㓥房、笼屋”。昨日，正在香港视察的夏宝龙到九龙湾一间茶楼饮早茶，与市民近距离接触，席间再有议员反映，香港市民最关注的是房屋短缺。

　　解决房屋问题任重道远，如何解决？事在人为，关键还是拿出决心和魄力。香港并不缺少土地，大量闲置“养蚊子”的棕地、农地固然要开发，保育价值不高的郊野公园边陲地也不应该是“禁区”，加上推进北部都会区、东大屿规划，多管齐下，拓土可望迎刃而解。建屋方面，通过简化程序，可以将整个流程缩短一半，大大增加供应量。如果使用新的建造方法，建屋速度还可以进一步加快。

　　最重要的是，随着落实香港国安法和完善香港选举制度，长期阻挠、破坏特区政府施政的重重阻力已被破解，香港实现了由乱到治的根本性转变，开启了由治及兴的新篇章。在爱国者治港原则下，香港践行基本法规定的行政主导，行政和立法相互配合，施政效率显著提升，这从根本上为加快房屋建设提供保障。房协的建屋量在未来十年将创新高，这绝对不是偶然的，而是新形势、新阶段的生动体现。如果说，“安得广厦千万间”曾经是疑问和遗憾，那么现在正在逐步变成看得见、摸得着、感受得到的现实。

　　社会稳定是发展经济改善民生的前提。事实证明，祖国是香港最坚定的靠山，中央在香港所做的一切都是为了香港好，为了给香港市民谋福祉。夏宝龙到香港视察6天，广泛接触各界，深入基层调研，也体现了中央对香港的重视和对香港市民的关爱。

　　今天，香港迎来国安法落实后的第三个全民国家安全教育日，以此为契机，加上长效的教育宣传机制，社会各界可以进一步认识国安才能家安的道理，更加珍惜来之不易的社会稳定，更加自觉维护国家安全。

　　Social stability is the fundamental pre-condition for solving the housing problem

　　Hong Kong Housing Society yesterday said it was facing the production peak in its history. It has 25 projects in the planning phase or under construction and more than 45,000 flats will be built, of which 35,000 will be built within the next 10 years. This good news is inspiring and delightful. Today as Hong Kong is governed by patriots, the SAR Government sets it as its governance goal to satisfy citizens' aspirations to live a better life, acts with courage and determination and earnestly improves its work style. It is no longer a dream to achieve the goal of letting citizens"live in bigger places"and"say goodbye to partitioned flats"!

　　Hong Kong has accumulated quite many deep-seated social problems, the housing problem being the thorniest one. In Hong Kong, the burden to purchase or rent a home has remained the heaviest in the world. The average waiting time for a public rental housing flat once exceeded six years. It now drops to 5.5 years, but still far away from the"three-year" target set by the government. Moreover, there are more than 200,000 people in Hong Kong still living in partitioned flats laden with potential safety hazards, which are so small that one can hardly turn around inside one. Such Hong Kong-style"slums" exhibit a striking contrast to row upon row of skyscrapers on every side. The existence of partitioned flats is an epitome of the wealth gap in society and a shame of Hong Kong as an advanced economy. It also sows the seeds of social instability. In this regard, Hong Kong has suffered bitter experiences.

　　The Central Government attaches great importance to Hong Kong's housing problem. Central Government leaders think what Hong Kong people think. In his important speech delivered last year at the meeting marking the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the Motherland, President Xi Jinping mentioned that " Currently, the biggest aspiration of Hong Kong people is to lead a better life, in which they will have more decent housing", and instructed that " The newly inaugurated HKSAR government should be pragmatic, live up to what the people expect of it". Two years ago, Xia Baolong, Director of the State Council's Hong Kong and Macao Affairs, set a timetable for Hong Kong to solve the housing problem, saying that Hong Kong should "say goodbye to partitioned flats and cage homes" by 2049, when the country is to achieve the Second Centenary Goal [of comprehensively building a modern socialist country]. During his ongoing inspection tour in Hong Kong, Xia Baolong yesterday went to yum jou cha in a restaurant in Kowloon Bay so he could make close contact with citizens. Chatting during the meal, some Legislative Council member told him what concerned Hong Kong citizens the most was housing shortage.

　　Solving the housing problem is an arduous task and the road is long. How to tackle it? Where there's a will there is a way. The crux of the matter is to have courage and determination. Hong Kong is not short of land. Surely many sites of brown land and farmland, left idle for mosquitoes to reside in and breed,  should be used for development, but land on the periphery of country parks with little conservation value should not be regarded as the"restricted area [for development] " either. In addition, there are development plans for the Northern Metropolis and East Lantau Metropolis. With such a multi-pronged approach, the problem of expanding land resources could be neatly solved. Regarding housing construction, through simplifying procedures, the whole process could be shortened by half to greatly increase supply. By using new construction technology, the pace of housing construction could become even faster.

　　Most importantly, with the Hong Kong national security law implemented and the electoral system enhanced, obstructions to blocking and jeopardising the SAR Government's governance for a long period of time have already been removed one after the other, and Hong Kong has achieved the transition from chaos to order and unveiled a new chapter of advancing from stability to prosperity. Under the principle of "patriots governing Hong Kong", Hong Kong practices an executive-led system as stipulated by the Basic Law with the executive authorities and the legislature cooperating with each other, which greatly improves the efficiency of policy implementation. This provides the fundamental guarantee for the pace of housing construction to accelerate. It is not by chance that the Housing Society's production will set a record high in next 10 years. Instead it is a vivid reflection of the new situation and new stage. If it used to be a question and regret "when thousands and thousands of homes could be built", then it is now gradually becoming a reality that can be seen, touched and felt.

　　Social stability is a pre-condition for developing the economy and improving people's livelihood. As shown by facts, the Motherland gives Hong Kong the strongest backing. Everything the Central Government does in Hong Kong is for the betterment of Hong Kong and for the benefit of Hong Kong citizens. Xia Baolong pays a six-day inspection tour in Hong Kong to make contact with various sectors and conduct fact-finding investigations and studies at the grassroots level. This also shows that the Central Government pays attention to Hong Kong and cares about Hong Kong citizens.　　

　　Today, Hong Kong ushers in the third National Security Education Day after the implementation of the Hong Kong national security law. In addition to long-lasting education and publicity in this regard, this is a good opportunity for Hong Kong society to further understand the reason that the safety of our home is premised on the security of our country, thus to further cherish social stability that is not easy to come by and to safeguard national security with a greater awareness.