140
LAND AND HOUSING
value. Rents are calculated on the basis of estimated working expenses and amortization of capital expenditure on buildings and land over 40 years at 5 per cent per annum compound interest. They range from $48 a month for a four-person flat to $139 a month for a 14-person flat. Selection of tenants is carried out on the basis of housing need and a points system is operated.
In 1962 the Authority undertook, at the government's request, to manage all properties built under the government low-cost housing programme. Management is carried out on a non-profit basis, the costs being paid by the government and rents credited to government funds. Rents range from $35 a month for a four- person room to $80 a month for a 10-person room. At the end of the year six low-cost housing estates, providing accommodation for 67,275 people in 14,048 flats, were either fully completed or nearing completion. Work on three other estates had started. The original programme was to house 20,000 people a year, but this was considerably increased by a revised policy which laid-down a new building programme for low-cost housing envisaging the rehousing of 290,000 people by 1974.
Maintenance and management of the Authority's estates and of the government low-cost housing estates is of a high standard, and includes rent collection and supervision by trained housing managers, maintenance officers and assistants. The staff of the Authority are all government servants working in the Housing Division of the Urban Services Department under the direction of the Commissioner for Housing. The Authority reimburses all staff salaries to the government plus a percentage surcharge calculated to meet indirect staff costs such as pensions, housing and medical treatment.
A number of voluntary organizations have built housing for lower and middle income groups during recent years. The largest of these is the Hong Kong Housing Society, a pioneer in the field of low-cost housing in the Colony. An account of the Society's work is given in Chapter 1. The rents of the 14,536 flats it provides vary from $39 a month for a small room with communal facilities, to a maximum of $170 a month for a larger room with adjoining kitchen, toilet and balcony. During the year, 1,294 flats were com- pleted at Kwun Tong and a new estate at Kennedy Town is under