path Kaina 13
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29
Jendary, 1971.
29%
HKK 13/15
UNCLASSIFIED
erve swall
1/3/71
Thank you very much indeed for your very useful letter of 7 January about housing. To re-house a quarter of the popula- tion of Hong Kong over the next six years is certainly an ambitious undertaking and one for which the Colony deserves to be given due credit.
2. Could I just clear up one or two points on which I am still
uncertain:
(a)
(b)
(0)
(a)
You say that you are now considering the Housing Board's late t report which proposes that as a start 30,000 squatters settled on Crown land not required for development should be resettled in the next six years. Does this 30,000 come within the figure of 1,040,000 on page 4 of your letter or are they additional?
Taking your figure of 500,000 for the total number of squatters in the urban ares and assuming that the vast majority of those who will get accorrode tion under the Housing Board plan over the next six years will go to low cost housing and resettlement estates, would it be correct to say that about 213,000 of the 560,000 you mention will in fact be ex-squatters? In other words, over the next six years the target is to house approximately 42 of the squatters. Can you give me for 1971 a figure for the percentage of Government expenditure which is devoted to housing?
Baroness Summerskill in the debate on Dependent Territories in the House of Lords on 12 January spoke about people living or boats. Do you include these amongst the numbers of squatters? The obviously regards the boat people as squatters, whereas I recognise that sore percentage of then may in fact be fishermen who traditionally or by prefer rce live aboard their boats and might resent forcible removal to dry land. Have you any figures for boat people? and what in fret is Goverment's long-term policy towards them? (I have myself of course seen some of them who have moved to low-cost housing ashore).
His Excellency
Bir David Trench, G.C." .C., M.C.,
Government House,
Hora For
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