The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government is mulling a fast-tracked conversion of hotels and commercial buildings into dormitories for college students — likely bypassing lengthy planning procedures — to tackle a critical accommodation shortage threatening the city's bid to become a global higher education hub.

The Development Bureau submitted a document to the Legislative Council (LegCo) on Friday, proposing a pilot program that aims to increase the supply of student beds through more incentives for private developers.

Key measures include a broadening of the “hotels” definition to enable most hotels and commercial buildings to be converted into student dormitories without going through lengthy planning procedures, which is expected to save substantial costs.

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The proposal will also view the prospective dormitories as non-residential buildings, so that developers will not need to remove excessive floor areas to fulfil a different plot ratio required for residential properties. This change will increase the available floor area for the new dormitories, providing more incentives for developers.

The Legislative Council’s Panel on Development is set to discuss the plan on Tuesday, followed swiftly by the Town Planning Board on Friday.

If approved, applications could open as early as July, with the first converted hostels expected to welcome students by the 2026-27 academic year, said the Education Bureau.

The move comes as part of Hong Kong’s intensified efforts to address a chronic student housing shortage, over an anticipated growing enrollment of non-local students under the city’s increasingly robust “Study in Hong Kong” brand.

Geopolitical tensions clouding the global higher education sector may also bring the city more international students, noted the bureau.

Recent figures from the Education Bureau show a pressing need — the city has over 192,000 undergraduate and graduate students in the 2024-25 academic year, but only some 44,000 dormitory places — meaning that roughly 4.36 students compete for each bed on campus.

In 2024, the real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield pointed out the hotel-to-student accommodation conversions would be an attractive investment choice amid the city’s dormitory shortage.

Following a review of private sites in Hung Hom, Jordan, Sai Ying Pun, and Shek Mun — areas adjacent to many of the city’s universities — the bureau estimated that, for most conversion cases, there will be no title deed changes and additional land premium payments, said the bureau.

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Student hostels will primarily serve full-time sub-degree or degree students at publicly funded or private universities, open to both local and non-local students.

Authorities also proposed that dormitories converted under the program can reserve bed places for non-student tenants such as housemasters or visiting scholars, but the proportion of such places should be capped at 10 percent.

The converted hostels must have access control and maintain a safe, suitable living environment, including compliance with fire safety, lighting, and ventilation requirements, the bureau added.

Contact the writer at wanqing@chinadailyhk.com