LAND AND HOUSING
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sale, e.g. The Peak District, the City Centre and the small end- paper maps of this Report. More maps of this kind are planned.
HOUSING
The general background of Hong Kong's housing problem, which has been so gravely accentuated by the influx of refugees from China, may be briefly described as follows. The majority of the population lives in the tenements of the urban area, which are densely overcrowded. Of 80,000 tenement floors existing before the war, 16,000 were damaged or destroyed during the occupation. By 1946 it was estimated that the population had already returned to its pre-war figure of 1,600,000; it has continued to grow, by immigration and natural increase, until it is now estimated to be 2,806,000. The housing situation before the war was already giving cause for serious concern; it is by all appearances far- more serious today. From the records, it appears that the domestic accommodation damaged or destroyed during the war was not fully replaced until 1950; but by that year the Colony was already receiving large numbers of refugees from China. New buildings are being constructed at a rate of about 1,000 a year. Much of this new building, however, has been accomplished at the expense of the demolition of old property, and it is estimated that the average rate of total increase over recent years has been only about 700 buildings a year, of which 500 buildings a year represent additionalTM domestic accommodation. This in turn represents about an additional 4,000 domestic premises a year which might reasonably accommodate 40,000 to 50,000 persons. The population is estimated to be increasing, by natural increase and immigration, by 100,000 to 150,000 persons a year. The housing position has nevertheless shown some slight improvement over recent years, due mainly to the wide-scale activities of the Resettlement Department in the resettlement of squatters.
It is estimated that 13.5% of the population are living in the New Territories and the islands, 6.5% are boat-people, and the remaining 80% inhabit the 36 square miles of the urban area (Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and New Kowloon), the great majority being resident in the ten square miles of the built-up city and tenement area on the harbour shores and the Kowloon