Yes it is contractual to pay housing assistance/HKPA for all of us. The levels are policy. So $1 is still an ARAP payment for someone who was getting $100K last month in rental assistance. As I have stated on these forums, and in all the TA18 forums, the amount can vary. If it varies too much - then it is challengeable in court. As I said - what was defines "too much" in Sep 2020 is very different to what the amount/percentage would have been in Dec 2019.
In terms of even pain? I am not so sure - somehow I think i am in the demographic that will be hit hardest. If they put us on onto current levels of HKPA - that hurts less than half the pilots here. And where would we go? If they tweak HKPA as well - then a lot of pain for the expats very little pain for HKPA recipients.
So yeah - if there is pain I will almost guarantee it won't be (fairly) shared - pretty sure my demographic will be hit hardest!