LAND AND HOUSING
167
During 1960, 41,328 persons in all, both squatters and settlers, were moved from land required for development and resettled. Almost all these people were accommodated in the 31 multi- storey blocks completed by the Public Works Department during the year, bringing the total population in the multi-storey estates to 271,770. The remainder went to the new cottages, and the cottage areas now hold 85,570 people. These clearances freed a total of 203.6 acres of land, which included a site of 37 acres for the Housing Authority's Choi Hung Estate, sites for schools, for other housing projects, and for new roads, reservoirs and other public engineering works.
For the remaining squatters there were the usual hazards of floods and fires. Typhoon 'Mary' did less damage in the squatter areas than might have been expected and there were compara- tively few landslides caused by the seasonal summer rains. In September 4,500 squatters were made homeless by a fire that broke out at Kowloon Tsai; there were 26 other squatter fires, less severe, during the year. 16,029 squatters were made homeless in all these disasters. In accordance with the usual policy they were not resettled but were allowed to rebuild their huts on their old sites or on other sites close by. 2,000 squatter families were given cash grants from a relief fund organized after typhoon 'Mary' by four leading newspapers.
In October a fresh survey of squatter areas showed that there were still around 530,000 squatters living in the areas surveyed, including 75,000 on the roof-tops of tenements. Squatters living in unsurveyed areas are now thought to number about 75,000. All these people were living in 'tolerated' huts, that is, huts that were first built before 1954 (or before 1956 in the case of roof-top huts). No new squatter structures have been permitted since those dates and any that are detected by the squatter patrols are demolished. During the year 11,613 new structures, or new additions to existing tolerated huts, were demolished in this way. But although squatter huts are controlled it is not possible to control the number of people who live in them and the squatter population continually grows both by natural increase and by the infiltration of new families into tolerated huts. It is clear therefore that if this population is to be effectively reduced the present rate of clearance of squatters must increase and the intention is to step up the rate