The 'Coffin Homes' of Hong Kong

Alan Taylor
May 16, 2017
17 Photos
In Focus

Associated Press photographer Kin Cheung spent time recently photographing some of the tiny subdivided housing units in Hong Kong, known as “coffin homes,” and those who live in them. Cheung reports that there is a “dark side to the property boom in wealthy Hong Kong, where hundreds of thousands of people priced out of the market must live in partitioned apartments, ‘coffin homes’ and other inadequate housing.” These residents are among an estimated 200,000 people in Hong Kong living in such tiny subdivided units, some so small that a person cannot even fully stretch out their legs.

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Wong Tat-ming, 63, sits in his "coffin home" which is next to a set of grimy toilets in Hong Kong as he pays HK$2,400 ($310) a month for a compartment measuring three feet by six feet, on March 28, 2017. It is crammed with all his meager possessions, including a sleeping bag, small color TV and electric fan. #

Kin Cheung / AP

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A general view of residential and commercial buildings in Yau Tsim Mong District where is a popular location for the subdivided units in Hong Kong, on May 6, 2017. #

Kin Cheung / AP

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In this March 17, 2017 photo, Li Suet-wen and her son, 6, and daughter, 8, are shown in their 120-square foot room crammed with a bunk bed, small couch, fridge, washing machine and small table in an aging walkup in Hong Kong as she pays HK$4,500 ($580) a month in rent and utilities. That's nearly half the HK$10,000 ($1,290) she earns at a bakery decorating cakes. #

Kin Cheung / AP

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Residents who only gave their surname Yeung, left and Lui, take rest in their coffin homes in Hong Kong, on March 28, 2017. #

Kin Cheung / AP

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A man walks in front of a residential and commercial building, center, where some coffin homes are located in Hong Kong, on April 25, 2017. #

Kin Cheung / AP

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Cheung Chi-fong, 80, sleeps in his tiny coffin home where he cannot stretch out his legs in Hong Kong, on March 28, 2017. #

Kin Cheung / AP

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Hong Kong residents, who only gave their surname, Lam, top left, Wan, top right, and Kitty Au, pose in their coffin homes on May 4, 2017. #

Kin Cheung / AP

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Simon Wong, an unemployed man, watches TV in his coffin home in Hong Kong, on May 4, 2017. #

Kin Cheung / AP

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A five year-old boy plays outside his tiny home which is made of concrete and corrugated metal on the terrace of a apartment block as he lives with his parents in an illegal rooftop hut in Hong Kong, on April 20, 2017. #

Kin Cheung / AP

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A resident who only gave his surname Yeung, takes rest in his coffin home on March 28, 2017. #

Kin Cheung / AP

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Kitty Au plays with her hamster in her coffin home on May 4, 2017. #

Kin Cheung / AP

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Tse Chu, a retired waiter, sleeps in his coffin home on March 28, 2017. #

Kin Cheung / AP

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A resident walks outside his illegal rooftop hut located next to a public housing estate in Hong Kong on May 6, 2017. #

Kin Cheung / AP

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A set of grimy toilets and single sink shared by the coffin home's two dozen inhabitants, including a few single women, is located at a flat in Hong Kong, on March 28, 2017. #

Kin Cheung / AP

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A resident who only gave his surname Sin, 55, tidies up the bed in his coffin home in Hong Kong on May 4, 2017. #

Kin Cheung / AP

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Wong Tat-ming, 63, sits in his coffin home, crammed with all his meager possessions, including a sleeping bag, small color TV and electric fan, on March 28, 2017. He and another elderly resident complained to a visiting social worker about bedbugs and cockroaches. #

Kin Cheung / AP

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Li Suet-wen and her son, 6, and daughter, 8, live in a 120-square foot room crammed with a bunk bed, small couch, fridge, washing machine and small table in an aging walkup in Hong Kong, photographed on March 17, 2017. #

Kin Cheung / AP

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