186
HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT
construction, and 75% of all the domestic accommodation in the urban area was tenement house construction, 51% having been built since the war.
These statistics show that there is apparently one unit of domestic accommodation for every 15 persons in the urban area, excluding persons living in resettlement accommoda- tion or without regular housing. The extent of the housing shortage will be even more apparent when it is realized that the average tenement floor cannot accommodate more than ten persons without exceeding the public health standard of overcrowding. In succeeding paragraphs are described some of the ways in which the Government, in many cases in association with private enterprise, is seeking to remedy the housing shortage.
Since the war land has been made available by Govern- ment at about one-third of the usual market value in order to encourage non-profit-making housing projects by a number of voluntary societies catering for the general public, or by larger employers for their own employees.
Amongst the voluntary societies the principal role so far has been played by the Hong Kong Housing Society, the pioneer locally in the field of low-cost housing. The Society, formed in 1948 as an offshoot of the Hong Kong Council of Social Service and incorporated by Ordinance in 1951 as a separate body, now manages a total of 1,455 flats, cottages and shops, housing some 8,800 people. It is aided by loans both from the Colony's Development Fund and grants from Colonial Development and Welfare funds. Its estates (existing and planned) include :
(a) Hung Hom, the largest estate, where 'there will eventually be 1,254 flats for white-collar workers. So far 684 flats with 25 shops have been occupied by 4,428 people, and 570 flats are still under construc- tion. Present rents, including rates, are $63 and $82 a month for five and seven person flats respectively.