LAND AND HOUSING
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as to whether or not particular premises are excluded from its provisions. Where landlords or tenants are dissatisfied with the increase of rent certified or the certificate of fair market rent there is a right of review by an independent rent tribunal and also by appeal to the District Court.
Multi-storey Building Management
The Multi-storey Buildings (Owners Incorporation) Ordinance was enacted in 1970. This provides for the owners of individual apartments in the many large multi- storey buildings in multiple ownership to join together and form an effective manage- ment body to look after the building. By the end of 1973, largely as a result of efforts by City District Officers and New Territories District Officers to explain the procedures involved, a total of 582 corporations had been registered. Many of these corporations have been able to make notable improvements in the management of their buildings. Training courses and seminars for office-bearers in these corporations have been organised by the Home Affairs Department.
A new form of organisation designed to improve conditions in multi-storey buildings was devised during 1973 in connection with the Fight Violent Crime Cam- paign and Clean Your Buildings Campaign. This was the mutual aid committee, a simple form of non-statutory body in which tenants as well as owners are able to join in improving conditions in their buildings. Some 1,214 of these committees had been formed by the end of the year.
Housing
Since 1953, when it built the first rudimentary low-rent resettlement blocks to accommodate thousands of homeless squatters, the Hong Kong Government has become non-profit-making landlord to nearly 43 per cent of the population. But, in spite of this vast achievement the problem of housing remains.
To tackle it the government, in 1972, announced an ambitious housing pro- gramme. The avowed target is to build on such a scale that, within 10 years, there will be enough permanant homes, self-contained with good amenities and in a reason- able environment for everyone in Hong Kong.
When realised, this will mean the virtual disappearance of squatter areas, and the elimination of overcrowding and sharing. It would also allow for the rehousing of those uprooted by development schemes and for the homeless and the unfortunate.
This means building homes for 1.5 million people-almost half the present population-during the next 10 years. The total cost of developing sites and building accommodation for this figure, at present day prices, would be more than $5,400 million.
The programme demands a high degree of efficiency and co-ordination. To achieve this, a new Housing Authority was formed in April 1973 with the responsi- bility for planning, building and managing all public housing estates in Hong Kong. It has taken over the functions previously divided between the former Housing Author- ity, the Urban Council, the Housing Board, the housing division of the Urban Services