LAND AND HOUSING
181
areas required for permanent development. The living conditions in these cottage resettlement areas were a great improvement on those in the squatter areas, but progress in their development was slow, partly because most squatters could not afford to build cottages on the sites offered, and partly because the only sites available for such development were steep, relatively remote, and on heavily eroded hillsides.
At the beginning of 1954, after the disastrous Christmas night squatter fire at Shek Kip Mei in which over 50,000 people were made homeless in a few hours, a major change in policy was made. It was decided to construct from public funds large multi- storey resettlement estates as the only practicable solution of the squatter problem, and to set up a Resettlement Department, working under the direction of the Urban Council, to co-ordinate all activities relating to the control and resettlement of squatters. In the six years since that decision was taken multi-storey resettle- ment accommodation has been built by the Government for nearly 225,000 squatters, at a total capital cost of $106,000,000.
The design and construction of the multi-storey resettlement blocks is undertaken by the Public Works Department. They are of a standard design, seven storeys high and divided into rooms varying in size from 86 square feet to 240 square feet, the majority being of 120 square feet for a family of five. Communal latrines, washing spaces, and bathing cubicles are provided on each floor, and electricity is available in the public areas, as well as for all settlers who can afford it. Rents have been calculated to cover administrative costs and the repayment of all capital costs, includ- ing all engineering works and a fixed figure of $10 a square foot for the land, in 40 years with interest at 34%. On this basis the rent of the standard room is $14 a month. Ground floor rooms are let to settlers residing in the estate for use as workshops, or as shops or restaurants, a rent of $100 a month being charged for the standard shop of 240 square feet. The average resettlement block accommodates about 2,500 persons, and the larger estates have a population of between 40,000 and 65,000 persons.
The estate blocks have been so designed that the rooms can be. readily converted to self-contained flats, and a number of them have already been converted in this way to provide quarters for the estate administrative staff. In 1957 one block at Lo Fu Ngam