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LAND AND HOUSING
help to alleviate the housing shortage in the Colony by providing accommodation for their staff. Large industrial concerns have built dormitory-type accommodation for their workers and a number of public utility companies and commercial firms have built flats for employees and their families.
Government Housing. The Government has helped its junior local staff by reserving for them 15 per cent of all domestic accommodation in low-cost housing estates built by the Public Works Department between 1961 and 1965. Rent and other con- ditions of tenancy are the same as for other members of the public. Government has also helped its staff for a number of years by encouraging the formation of co-operative building societies among local civil servants on the pensionable establishment and giving them loans to buy land and build flats. However, owing to the large number of applications under consideration this scheme was suspended in May 1962. Applications received before this are still being considered and by the end of 1962, 207 societies had been formed with 4,089 members; 364 flats were completed in 1962. Government provides accommodation for its overseas staff and also for many of its local staff, including police and fire service officers, nurses and resident staff on Government installations.
The Hong Kong Housing Authority. The Hong Kong Housing Authority is a statutory body created by Ordinance No 18 of 1954, and consists of all members of the Urban Council, ex officio, and certain other members appointed by the Governor. The ordinance gives the Authority wide powers in relation to housing. Its aim is to provide as much accommodation as possible for residents of the Colony living in overcrowded and unsatisfactory conditions. It plans, constructs and manages its own estates, which are designed for those with family incomes ranging from $400 to $900 a month. Under this programme the Authority has housed approximately 61,000 people in 9,908 flats in six wholly or partially completed estates and is constructing another 10,998 flats to house a further 65,348 people.
In 1962 the Authority adopted a new 10-year programme de- signed to provide accommodation for approximately 153,000 people in 24,500 flats between 1964 and 1973. In addition it also undertook, at Government's request, to manage all the properties