130
LAND AND HOUSING
Cultivators in the urban area who opened up their cultivation before October 1954, and who lost their land and livelihood through clearance for development, are given monetary compensation. During the year $681,570 was paid to cultivators against the clear- ance of 17.6 acres of cultivation.
New squatting is restricted as far as possible and periodical surveys are made to determine the number of squatters living in the urban areas and Tsuen Wan. A survey carried out in 1964 showed 488,984 squatters in the areas surveyed, including 65,317 on rooftops. All structures included in the survey will be tolerated until their clearance is required for development; any subsequently erected will be demolished as soon as they are discovered. During the year there were 16,995 demolitions of illegal untolerated struc- tures or extensions to tolerated ones. A total of 25,913 people were allocated sites on which to build temporary huts pending resettlement into estates. Of these, 4,292 were rooftop squatters from tenements demolished for redevelopment and 5,089 were tenants from dangerous buildings. At the same time, 23,161 in- habitants of these resite areas were resettled into estates.
The increasing number of tenants evicted from dangerous pre-war buildings was one of the factors taken into account in a re-examina- tion of resettlement policy which took place in 1964. While the law already provided for compensation to be paid by landlords, tenants were not eligible for resettlement. The 'Review of Policies for Squatter Control, Resettlement and Low-Cost Housing', adopted by the Legislative Council as a guide to future policy, put the former tenants of dangerous pre-war buildings at the head of a priority list for resettlement. To avail themselves of this priority they pay a lump sum as an advance on their resettlement rent. This rent advance is returned to them in the form of a reduced rent over the first 10 years of their tenancy. In all, 10,186 people were resettled under this scheme during 1965, including 5,920 former tenants of demolished buildings already living in resite areas before the scheme came into effect.
The revised resettlement policy also gives priority for accom- modation to compassionate cases and victims of natural disasters, to squatters living in areas needed for re-development, tenants of over-crowded rooms in existing resettlement estates and to pave- ment dwellers. Associated with these changes are the new building