HOUSING AND LAND
Temporary Housing
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In addition to its estates, the Housing Authority also builds and manages temporary housing areas for homeless people not eligible for permanent housing. Over the year, considerable improvements have been made in this type of housing.
All temporary housing areas now provide the basic structure of a wooden frame with an asbestos roof. Space is allocated to families according to family size, and the occupants build their own internal and external walls. Facilities provided include concrete hardstand- ing; home water and electricity supply; central lavatory facilities usually with water-borne sanitation; paved and grassed areas; children's play areas; round-the-clock security guards; and comprehensive management services. Family units are let at a monthly fee of around $7 per square metre.
A total of 36 000 people, including 25 000 victims of natural disasters, moved into temporary housing during the year. This brought to 120 000 the number of people living in the 44 temporary housing areas that are managed by the authority.
Transit Centres
The Housing Authority also provides short-term accommodation in transit centres for people made homeless by fires or other natural disasters. The total capacity of these transit centres is about 15 000 people.
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 present squatter population is estimated to be more than half a million. 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. The Housing Authority is now responsible for squatter control throughout the territory.
Squatters who have lived in Hong Kong for more than 10 years and 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.
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The 1981 clearance programme yielded 487 hectares of land for development with the removal of about 53 000 people from squatter-type and permanent structures. Of these, 27 400 were allocated permanent housing. The remainder were accommodated in either primary housing in the urban area or temporary housing in the new towns.
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, 35 000 structures or extensions were demolished for these reasons.
The large scale of immigration in 1980 has 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 are built and occupied adds to the problem of squatter control, particularly outside areas which are planned for development.
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