XCC(71)20
(c)
CONFIDENTIAL
(d)
1
12
It must be recognised however that to give the Urban Council its own rate, with authority to seek to have its rate (and so the total rate) raised from time to time, will tend to give the Urban Council more prestige and political importance, and might well encourage the Councillors in their ambitions. Even so, it is considered that the advantages of financing the Council in this way outweigh the dis- advantages.
It is also likely that the Urban Council themselves might not favour these financing methods, since expansion of expenditure beyond the yield of their rate would require them publicly to accept the responsibilities for bringing about an increase in rates. The Council's request for a rate (in its March 1969 Report) no doubt assumed that, as its expenditure increased, additional income would be made over to it within the present 17% rate, i.e. with Government's rate declining. This however is not the intention,
Urban Council Interest in Public Housing
10
Urban Council unofficials have two roles to play in public housing matters; as the Urban Council they are responsible for the manage- ment of resettlement estates, and as ex-officio members of the Housing Authority they are responsible for building and managing low-income flats. In addition, the Housing Authority manages all Government low-cost housing and has begun to manage some resettlement blocks, as well as new housing schemes for local employees of Government. The Council's March 1969 Report suggested that all forms of public housing should be placed under one department controlled by the Council, with the Director of the department a member of the Council. However, the size, complexity and colony-wide nature of the housing problem would seem to argue in favour of severing the Council's present connection with housing matters rather than extending them; in other words any interest the Councillors are to have in housing matters in the future should centre around the Housing Authority rather than the Urban Council. A decision will soon have to be made on the future coordination and control of public housing, but in the meantime it is not possible to contemplate changing the Council's present responsibilities in this field.
11
To preserve the status quo in the Housing Authority until such time as a decision is taken on the coordination of public housing, it will be necessary to amend the Housing Ordinance (Chapter 283) to provide that the officials who are now members by virtue of their Urban Council membership will continue to be members after that membership has
ceased,
CONFIDENTIAL