UNCLASSIFIED
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENTS IN HONG KONG
1.
The publicly declared policy of the Hong Kong Government is to
ensure that social services in the territory are equal to the best
available in any of the countries in the region apart from Japan.
Spending on the social services now accounts for 46% of Hong Kong
Government expenditure. The main elements in the social development
programme are:
Housing
2. The Government housing programme has so far provided homes for
more than 2 million people (46% of the population). New public
housing is now being built at a rate of 30-35,000 units a year -
sufficient to house some 200,000 people. This programme was drawn
up with the intention of providing public housing for 65% of the
anticipated population by the mid-eighties, and then maintaining it
at that level. This would have met the full demand for subsidised
Government accommodation. However, the programme is now being
threatened by the very high level of immigration from China, and it
seems probable that the full demand for Government housing will not
now be met until some years after the original target date.
3. The influx of immigrants from China has coincided with a slight
reduction in the targets for new public housing. This was necessary
because of the strains that were being placed on the Hong Kong
economy by the excessive demands of the construction industry (a
situation that was, however, partly caused by the unexpectedly high
level of private housing construction
units per year).
also running at some 30,000
/Education