176
LAND AND HOUSING
people within a few years in a low-cost building programme which, for speed and imagination, has few parallels in the modern world. By the end of 1961 the Government of Hong Kong had become, through this programme, the direct landlord of about 439,000 persons. This figure represents about one-seventh of the population and there are plans to resettle a further 500,000 people during the next five years. New blocks, each capable of accommodating over 2,200 persons, come into being at the rate of one every 10 days.
The rapid increase in population since the war led to the satura- tion of conventional housing, this meant that for many the only means of shelter was to put up a hut, of any materials that could be had cheaply, on any piece of vacant land. These squatter huts rapidly spread over the urban areas of Hong Kong and Kowloon. In many places there were colonies of squatters, some of 50,000 or more living together in a closely-packed mass, with their own shops and schools, and even factories and workshops. Sanitation was primitive or non-existent, and in these crowded colonies there were frequent fires and the constant threat of epidemic disease. Moreover, the presence of the squatters on the land made im- possible the solution of the very problems to which their presence had given rise. The houses, schools and hospitals needed for this swollen population could not be put in hand because the land required for their construction was occupied by squatters.
As early as 1948 squatters had been moved from central districts to 'tolerated areas' on the outskirts of the town, where they were allowed to rebuild their huts. Later approved resettlement areas' were established where dwellings were required to be built of stone or other fireproof materials to an approved pattern. The tolerated areas had the disadvantage that they reproduced many of the unsatisfactory features of the squatter areas, while the majority of squatters were too poor to be able to build or purchase the type of cottage required. This difficulty was overcome by the construction of cottages by welfare organizations which rented them to approved settlers, either direct or through Government, or accepted payment for them by instalments. But the fundamental objection remained that this form of resettlement was uneconomic, in both land and money, and could not be used on a scale which would make real impact on the squatter problem as a whole.