“I feel like hanging myself”: the hellish daily life of Tony, tenant of a “coffin apartment” in Hong Kong

In Hong Kong, thousands of residents live in “coffin apartments” or “cage houses”. The teams from Sept à Huit went there to interview the tenants about the living conditions.

With its 7.5 million inhabitants and its lack of building land, the real estate market in Hong Kong has become the most expensive in the world. The square meter reaches 25,000 euros, three times more than in Paris. Renting a three-room apartment in the city center is around 7,000 euros.

The explosion in rental prices has forced thousands of people, even permanent employees, to live in tiny, unsanitary housing or in subdivided squats. The elderly are the most affected by this poverty. One in three lives in undignified living conditions in unsanitary micro-housing.

No bigger than the “size of a bed”

These kinds of illegal “cage houses” or “coffin apartments” are run by owners whose practices are monitored by the Hong Kong authorities. Here, for example, there is no question of a lease since the slum landlord demands cash from his tenants.

If real estate agencies do not rent cages or subdivided housing, these illegal ads abound on the walls of working-class neighborhoods: “Luxury rental, women's bed, hot water, padlock and air conditioning”, one can read in particular.

These “luxury rentals” where kitchen and toilets are confuse, are not bigger than "the size of a bed", explains one of the tenants to the journalists of Sept à Huit.

In fact, the size of the cage houses infested with cockroaches and mold does not exceed 1.80 meters by 60 centimeters. Eating, sleeping and even sometimes dying for some… all the daily activities of life take place within this tiny caged place.

“If I didn't have a TV, I'd talk to the wall”

These “coffin apartments”“or “cage houses” are created by landlords who illegally divide up thirty-square-metre dwellings so that they can accommodate twenty or so bunk beds. Each bed is equivalent to a box.

Tony lives in one of these boxes, which is also infested with fleas and rats: “There's a fan outside, but when I close the door of my box, it's oppressive. I feel like committing suicide. Hanging myself. We're going around in circles. If I didn't have the TV, I'd be talking to the wall. It's horrible”, he testifies to Seven to Eight.

In his apartment, the "boxes" at the bottom cost more because "they're easier to reach". It's about “250 euros per month for a little over a square meter”, says Tonny. A very lucrative business for the owners: “That's almost 5,000 euros per month for the owner, for 40 square meters. It's a juicy business”, explains the tenant.