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HOUSING AND LAND
Such rudimentary facilities are not now considered acceptable and in 1973 the Housing Authority obtained funds from the government for improvements in a number of these old licensed areas, including provision of house water and electricity. The government also provided funds for the authority to construct a new style of licensed area fully serviced and containing rows of asbestos roofs supported on a timber frame. Licensees are allocated space within these part-built structures and they construct their own internal and external walls. The outcome is a form of temporary housing which is safer, more orderly and more manageable than before, but which preserves the self-help principle.
Cottage Areas
The first 'cottage areas' were established in 1948 for squatters in central areas who were offered sites in outlying-districts to build their own huts. It was then thought that these outlying areas would not be required for development in the foreseeable future. But because of the rapid progress of development, many of these cottages are now being cleared for public works projects.
Some of the stone or brick and wooden huts were put up by the settlers them- selves, but others were built by welfare or non-profit-making organisations. Prominent among these sponsors were the National Catholic Welfare Conference, the Methodist Board of Missions, the Church World Service and the Hong Kong Settlers Housing Corporation. Most agencies have now found it more convenient to transfer ownership of their cottages to the government, to be administered by the Housing Department. Apart from permit fees, rents are charged for government-owned huts. The cottage areas also contain many schools and welfare facilities, which pay a nominal fee of $2.50 a quarter for their sites.
Squatters
The prevention of new squatting on Crown land and the clearance of squatters from land required for development are two of the Housing Authority's most demand- ing tasks. In carrying out these activities the authority is mainly acting as the agent of the government and the cost of these operations is met in full from general revenue. Squatter control work is basically aimed at containing the growth of squatting by preventing the erection of new squatter structures.
The 1976 Squatter Control Survey conducted by the Housing Department in June shows that there has been a decrease in the squatter population from 411,060 people in 1964 to 274,427-a drop of 33 per cent. It also shows that fewer people are living in each squatter structure, the average being 5.3 people as compared with an average of 10 in 1964.
A pilot project to provide squatter areas with a legal power supply was success- fully implemented in 1976 in the sprawling squatter area below Lion Rock. It has benefited about 9,000 people or 2,200 families. The scheme was recommended by a working party appointed by the Secretary for Housing. For the first time, a legal source of power was made available to every structure in a squatter area, no matter how makeshift. Consumers in the pilot area were not required to contribute towards