HOUSING AND LAND
105
Squatter Control and Clearance Despite higher production figures for public housing, the number of squatters has increased considerably in the past few years because Hong Kong's population has grown so alarmingly mainly from illegal immigration. The policy for dealing with the environmental and social problems created by squatters has had to be modified over the years to allow for changing circumstances. Today, because of the tremendous pressure on housing, the policy is to clear only those areas required for permanent development and to exercise strict control over the building of additional structures in areas planned for such develop-
ment.
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Squatters with 15 years' Hong Kong residence, who occupy huts covered by the 1976 General Squatter Survey - together with people occupying licensed structures, temporary housing areas and private tenement buildings required for a public purpose or declared dangerous are eligible for direct permanent housing on clearance. Squatters occupying post-1976 survey structures and houseboats are only eligible for temporary housing.
The 1980 clearance programme yielded 210 hectares of land for development with the removal of about 46,000 people from squatter-type and permanent structures. Of these, 31,300 were allocated permanent housing and the balance primary housing in the urban area or temporary housing in the new towns.
The Housing Department is responsible for controlling squatters in five districts the urban areas of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, and the three new towns of Tsuen Wan, Tuen Mun and Sha Tin in the New Territories. About 312,100 squatters live in these districts.
With squatters being cleared only from land required for permanent development, the task of squatter control is to contain the growth of temporary structures on areas of Crown land required for development or where squatter structures are likely to create health, fire or structural hazards. During the year, 11,000 structures or extensions were demolished in a number of districts designated as intensive patrol areas.
The largescale immigration in 1980 led to general overcrowding in existing squatter structures and the presence of racketeers attempting to build and sell huts for profit. The speed with which these huts were built and occupied added to the problem of squatter control, particularly outside areas patrolled intensively.
Action was taken by the Housing Authority during the year to close a loophole which enabled opportunists to enter permanent or temporary housing ahead of long-term residents. The new measures, introduced in August, specify that when a tenement building or village-type house is designated for clearance, the occupants, apart from fulfilling the normal residential and other eligibility criteria, must now prove that they have been living on the premises since the date clearance negotiations began or the date on which the Execu- tive Council approved the resumption, whichever is the earlier. Onus of proof of residence is on the occupants under these measures, which are aimed at preventing unscrupulous owners, landlords or principal tenants from cashing in on queue-jumping rackets.
Town Planning
The two bodies mainly responsible for town planning in Hong Kong are the Town Planning Board, chaired by the Director of Public Works and comprising six official and eight un- official members, and the Land Development Policy Committee, chaired by the Secretary for the Environment and comprising seven official members.
The Town Planning Office of the Public Works Department services these two bodies and other related committees. The main types of plan prepared by the office are the Hong