Bedspace apartment

A bedspace apartment (Chinese: 牀位寓所; pinyin: chuáng wèi yùsuǒ; Jyutping: cong4 wai2 jyu6so2), also called cage home (籠屋; lóngwū; lung4uk1), coffin cubicle, or coffin home (棺材房; guāncai fáng; gun1coi4 fong2), is a type of residence that is only large enough for one loft bed surrounded by a metal cage.

However, the government could not handle the extra burden brought by the Chinese migrant workers, and there were no housing or labour protection policies in place at that time.

Since residents do not have room for any extra personal belongings inside the cage home, such a bedspace is deemed to be a place for sleeping only.

Even though some modern cage homes have partitions to separate different sections, these typically consist of only a thin piece of wood or paper board.

Cage homes generally have poor safety levels, due to their location within old buildings and inadequate fire protection.

Electric shocks and leakage frequently occur since the government does not conduct regular inspections to ensure that the various safety measures are up to standard.

Because residents rarely clean the open areas, cage homes are often found to have flies, mosquitoes, mice, and cockroaches.

[citation needed] Metal cages are typically made of iron, which rusts easily in the damp climate.

[4] Since cage homes are often located within older urban districts, they are usually extremely small, the same size as a parking space in the U.S.

[citation needed] Many of Hong Kong's citizens and social organisations have urged the government to construct more public housing estates to replace cage homes for low-income people.

The 1992 film Cageman, directed by Jacob Cheung, demonstrates the harsh living conditions in cage homes and sheds light on the difficulties faced by residents.

It described cage homes as the "size of a shoe box," stating that it was difficult for the rest of the world to believe that such a large number of people are living in such poor accommodations in a so-called wealthy city.