HKK 360/$
Mr Young yue-fung
Chairman of the Hong Kong &
Kowloon Resettlement Roof-top Schools Association Ltd
6, Block 20
Ground Floor
Wang Tau Hom Estate
KOWLOON
{:རྒྱུུ
HONG KONG
18
28
My Enter ypa
Enter girst
(2
11 August 1977
RE
IN 1.51
12
0019/7
1. I have been instructed by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs to reply to your letter of 22 April. I am sorry for the delay in replying but I can assure you that careful consideration has been given to what you have said.
2. I know that the Hong Kong Government fully appreciate the useful contribution that roof-top schools and kindergartens have made to the educational system in Hong Kong over the past years. I myself have had the opportunity to see what these schools are chieving. At the same time, I have to tell you that the Hong Kong Government does not consider that there are grounds for asking the Housing Authority, which is an independent body, to withdraw its proposals for a phased increase in the rents charged.
3. I understand that the Hong Kong Housing Authority is required by law to ensure that its revenue is sufficient to cover its expenditure. Previously, as you have said in your letter, schools and kindergartens established in former resettlement estates were only required to pay a nominal rent. They thus enjoyed a rent subsidy compared to similar private schools outside the resettlement estates which had to pay normal commercial rents. The Housing Authority did not consider that it was appropriate for them to continue to subsidize certain private organizations in this way and it was for this reason that they decided last year that schools and kindergartens in the resettlement estates should be asked to pay a more realistic rent, in the same way as was required of social welfare organizations in 1974. I understand that the increase in rent would be spread over 3 or 4 years and that the ultimate rent would fall far short of full commercial rents even at