Earlier this year, Benny Lam’s aerial shots of HK’s tiny, sub-divided homes went viral, drawing attention to the city’s dire housing crisis. A similar project by Ko Chung Ming also highlights the claustrophobic reality of HK’s poor in his 2012 series ‘Cents Mansion’…

‘Cage homes’. ‘coffin rooms’, sub-divided dwellings and steaming-hot, illegal rooftop flats are becoming all the more common in a city renowned for having the most expensive rental property market in the world…

The underprivileged families featured in Ko Chung Ming’s series have an average income of HK$8000 – more than half of this meagre income goes to rent…

With 11 years of experience as a photojournalist, Ko Chung Ming has won 1st prize in the HK Press Photographers Association – ‘Focus at the Frontline 2007’ awards. He also participated in ‘Art Chat on Harbour’, a exhibition featuring Hong Kong and China artists at the Cattle Depot in 2004…

Up to 280,000 Hong Kongers are living in subdivided flats and often paying exorbitant rent…

HK is a wealthy place and often sports a budget surplus… With the highest concentration of millionaires in Asia, it is awash with luxury malls and sports cars. Yet the city lacks a proper social safety net, is home to the widest rich-poor gap in the developed world and has a minimum wage of just HK$30 (US$3.87 or £2.40 – as of May 2013). Around a tenth of families live in poverty, according to Oxfam…

More of Ko Chung Ming’s photography can be found on his ‘vii’ profile here.

‘Poverty Amidst Plenty’ – related posts on Hong Wrong…