Hong Kong government offers to buy apartment ownerships from fire victims

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong officials on Saturday unveiled resettlement plans for thousands of people who were displaced by the deadliest blaze in decades last November, proposing to buy back the homeownership rights from the fire victims.

Almost three months after the massive blaze spread across seven apartment buildings in Wang Fuk Court, its former occupants have been living in uncertainty about when they would find somewhere they could call home again.

Many of them are adjusting to new lives in their temporary homes scattered across various districts, with the government offering rental grants to help homeowners pay for the short-term accommodation.

Officials said in a news conference on Saturday that homeowners of the seven buildings can sell their ownership rights for cash to secure accommodation of their choice or buy an apartment under a designated government policy. Residents who prefer not to deal with a large amount of cash can directly exchange an apartment under the policy.

The government estimated that buying back the rights of some 1,700 units would cost about 6.8 billion Hong Kong dollars ($870 million), with about HK$4 billion Hong Kong ($512 million) of that sum to be from public funds and the rest to be covered by a relief fund. The amount of public funds involved could eventually be lowered, factoring in insurance compensation.

Michael Wong, the city’s Deputy Financial Secretary, said the administration was inclined to dismantle the seven buildings and would not redevelop residential homes on the fire site. It could be transformed into a park or community facilities instead.

Wong said there's no reasonable or cost-effective way to repair the damaged buildings, and if the government doesn't intervene, it will be hard for homeowners to find buyers in the market.

“In other words, the funds they have invested in these units over the years could turn to nothing," he said.

The government aims to contact the homeowners in March and hopes to pay the owners in the third quarter of this year, he said, while those who opt for the apartment exchange program could start picking new homes in September.

The proposals came after affected residents were surveyed about their preferences. Wong said 74% of the respondents were willing to consider selling their ownership rights to the government. Some 9% of those who answered the survey said they would only accept redevelopment at the fire site, which the government expected to take about a decade, he said.

Cyrus Ng, whose elderly parents lived in one of the buildings, said his family preferred to move back to their home after maintenance work but they never had a chance to see how badly damaged their apartment was. He was also sceptical about the government’s claim that redevelopment at the fire site would take about a decade, saying it needed to provide more information.

“I didn’t have much expectation about today. I got some new information after tuning in but still haven’t got what we wanted in our heart,” he said.

The blaze killed 168 people on Nov. 26, 2025, and has shattered a close-knit community in the suburban district of Tai Po. Authorities blamed substandard scaffold netting and foam boards used in a maintenance project for rapidly spreading the fire. Although some arrests were made, an independent committee is still investigating the cause.

Kit Chan, a resident displaced by the Wang Fuk Court fire, poses for a photograph at her temporary housing unit at a youth hostel, on Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Kanis Leung)

Dorz Cheung, a resident displaced by the deadly Wang Fuk Court fire, is seen at the transitional housing provided by the government in Hong Kong, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei)

A general view of the fire-ravaged residential towers of the Wang Fuk Court apartment complex, in the Tai Po district of Hong Kong, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei)

MILAN (AP) — Jordan Stolz still can become the first man in 32 years to leave an Olympics with three gold medals in long track speedskating.

Heading into the women's and men's mass start events that wrap up the sport's competition at the Milan Cortina Games on Saturday, Stolz already has won the 500 meters and 1,000 meters and added a silver in the 1,500.

After the latter result on Thursday, Stolz said: “I didn’t have it today. Not sure why.”

There had been a lot of talk about whether the 21-year-old from Wisconsin might end up with a quartet of golds: He was asked questions about that at the outset of the news conferences immediately following his two victories.

But going home with a trio of wins would be significant.

The last male speedskater to get three golds in long track at a single Winter Games was Johann Olav Koss at the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics (the Norwegian won the 1,500, 5,000 and 10,000).

The only two athletes with more are Eric Heiden, who went 5-for-5 for the United States at the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics, and Lidiya Skoblikova, who claimed four titles in women's speedskating while representing the Soviet Union in 1964.

The mass start is unlike any other individual event in long track.

Instead of essentially racing against the clock during two-person heats, all of the entrants line up together and do 16 laps — a total of 6,400 meters — simultaneously. That can lead to jostling and create what some skaters call random outcomes.

“The mass start is just kind of a tossup,” Stolz said. “It’s more like a bonus. It’s so hard to say what’s going to happen in that.”

The semifinal rounds begin Saturday at 3 p.m. local time (9 a.m. ET), with the finals later in the day.

The American men competing are Stolz and Ethan Cepuran, a silver medalist in team pursuit in Italy; the squad's women are Mia Manganello and Greta Myers.

Valerie Maltais, the Canadian who has a gold in team pursuit and bronzes in the 1,500 and 3,000 at these Olympics, said she sees the mass start as really up for grabs.

“It’s anyone’s race. It's completely different. It's not the strongest athlete who will win; it's the smartest. The one who's going to be more patient. The one who's going to have to be bold, maybe in attack. A lot of things will happen,” Maltais said. “It’s hard to predict. You have less control of what’s happening around you. It’s the race where I'm the most nervous when I show up to the line.”

AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Jordan Stolz of the U.S. competes to win a silver medal in the men's 1500 meters speedskating race at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)