Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee and other top officials bowed in apology at a Thursday press conference where Lee announced that housing chief Winnie Ho would step down over the Wang Fuk Court fire, almost a year after the tragedy killed 168 people.

(From left to right) Chief Secretary Eric Chan, Chief Executive John Lee and Financial Secretary Paul Chan at a press conference on October 29, 2026. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.

Deputy Financial Secretary Michael Wong, who currently leads the government’s task force on long-term resettlement for survivors of the blaze, will be appointed as acting housing minister following Ho’s departure.

Lee said an independent committee that investigated the cause of the blaze at the Tai Po housing estate had made 120 recommendations, noting, among them, the need to combat collusive tendering practices in the building maintenance industry.

Lee also said that the government would activate a mechanism to investigate potential accountability issues within the civil service, after the committee’s report highlighted oversights by the Housing Bureau’s Independent Checking Unit (ICU), the Buildings Department, the Fire Services Department, and the Labour Department.

The “Tier II investigation” is a mechanism under the Heads of Department Accountability System, established in the Chief Executive’s 2025 Policy Address.

Lee said the Public Service Commission would complete its investigation within three months and submit recommendations on whether disciplinary action or administrative penalties would be in order.

Hong Kong top officials at a press conference on October 29, 2026. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.

Several reporters at the press conference asked why labour minister Chris Sun, security minister Chris Tang, and development minister Bernadette Linn did not face the same consequences as outgoing housing chief Ho.

In response, Lee said having Ho step down was his own decision as the city’s first-in-command. Tang, Sun, and Linn did not address the questions.

“I am the first person responsible as the chief executive, so it is up to me to make these decisions,” he said. “As for the questions that you would like to ask of the three secretaries, you would know that they are responsible to me. I have made a political decision and they must abide by it.”

“They must learn from these lessons, better exercise their leadership roles, and exert greater efforts to deliver on the result-oriented governance philosophy,” Lee said.

Long-awaited announcement

The much-anticipated press conference was announced just two hours before it was scheduled to take place.

Public hearings into the cause of the Wang Fuk Court blaze have suggested that various government departments, including the Housing Bureau’s Independent Checking Unit, the Fire Services Department, the Buildings Department, and the Labour Department, bore a share of the responsibility for the fire.

Senior Counsel Victor Dawes, representing the independent committee, said in July that the government “had an unshirkable responsibility to perform its regulatory role and protect the lives of residents.”

Copies of the independent committee’s report on the Wang Fuk Court fire, on October 29, 2026. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.

The Tai Po fire broke out on November 26 last year, engulfing seven buildings in the government-subsidised Wang Fuk Court housing estate during large-scale renovation works. The blaze killed 168 people and displaced over 4,600 residents.

Following the inferno, survivors have called for government officials to be held accountable, recalling their earlier attempts to sound the alarm over the construction company and a consultancy overseeing the renovation project.

‘Pursue accountability’

The government said in a statement last week that the independent committee investigating the deadly housing estate fire had submitted its final report to Chief Executive John Lee.

Lee said earlier this month that authorities would “pursue accountability” over the deadly blaze, but did not comment on whether government officials would be investigated for misconduct or lose their jobs.

Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po, pictured on November 28, 2025, in the aftermath of the fatal blaze. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.

The independent committee’s report reads: “The relevant civil servants had ignored the real and legitimate safety concerns of the residents leaving them in a helpless and desperate situation. Most unfortunately, what happened afterwards show that the residents were right about their complaints.”

Wang Fuk Court’s residents and the general public, the report said, “have a legitimate and reasonable expectation that the regulators could have done more to protect their safety…and the evidence in the present case clearly shows that the regulators’ performance fell below that standard.”

“The failings were systemic and pervasive. They cannot be ignored[,]” it read.

‘Main culprits’

Two companies were behind renovation works at Wang Fuk Court when the fire broke out: works contractor Prestige Construction & Engineering and project consultant Will Power Architects.

Prestige Construction & Engineering is listed as the “top choice” for the Wang Fuk Court maintenance works. Photo: James Lee/HKFP.

“PC&E and Will Power had overall responsibility for the works. The evidence in the Inquiry clearly demonstrates that they cut corners in numerous aspects,” the report says. The sentence is cut short, followed by several lines of redacted text.

“There is no doubt that they are the main culprits responsible for the occurrence of the inferno and the high fatalities in the tragic accident.”

The public hearings earlier this year found that substandard scaffolding nets were used at the site, which caused the rapid spread of the fire, and pointed to potential bid-rigging, links to competing contractors, and “rubber-stamp inspections.”