HOUSING AND LAND
Management
111
In line with the development of the District Administration Scheme, the Housing Depart- ment has decentralised its senior estate management staff to enable them to maintain closer contact with district boards and local interests in improving the management and living environment of public housing estates. Another service expanded during the year was a tenants' advice centre scheme to help families settle into Tuen Mun new town. Following the popularity of the original centre at Yau Oi Estate which handled more than 30 000 enquiries in its first year - a further two centres were established at new estates, and similar services may be extended to other new towns. As well as handling housing matters, staff made arrangements for assistance in such fields as schooling, employment and welfare services.
Close contact is maintained with tenants through frequent visits by estate staff. In addition, regular meetings are held with more than 800 mutual aid committees and other residents' associations established for such purposes as the Clean Hong Kong and Fight Crime campaigns. The door-to-door system of rent collection, which covers all estates, ensures not only an enviable rent collection record (less than 0.001 per cent monthly arrears) but also is an important means of keeping in touch with tenants.
Considerable inroads have been made into the overcrowding in older estates, although some 20 000 families (or five per cent) are still living in an area providing less than 2.23 square metres per person, compared with 77 000 in 1973. With an increasing number of new estates being completed, all such families are now eligible to apply for transfer to new flats. The flats they vacate, usually being smaller and having a lower rent, are used for further overcrowding relief or made available for families who do not yet qualify for permanent housing. Families wishing to move to a different flat can register with the Mutual-Exchange Bureau or, if they have valid reasons other than overcrowding for moving, they can request a transfer to a flat of the same size.
The Housing Authority is also an important commercial landlord, with 16 150 shop, shopstall, bank and restaurant tenancies of various sizes. Shops and shopstalls in new commercial centres are let on tendered rentals, thus giving the smaller operator with limited capital an opportunity to obtain an estate shop. Apart from the 10 000 small shops in the old estates, commercial properties are generally let on a three-year agreement. Rents are raised to near-market levels on renewal of an agreement but, where increases are substantial, it is the authority's policy to apply them in stages over two or three years. The authority also manages more than 4 900 factory tenancies in 33 purpose-built blocks, and 4 167 cottages in various districts.
About 220 premises on estates were let at concessionary rentals to various welfare and community bodies. These include primary and secondary schools, kindergartens, welfare clinics, nurseries, and child and youth centres. Hostels and centres are provided in some estates for the elderly and for mentally and physically retarded children and adults. Estate kaifong and residents' associations and block mutual aid committees are also provided with premises in most cases. Medical clinics and premises let to various government departments - including police posts and offices are generally let
at near-commercial rents.
Maintenance and improvements are major items, particularly in the older estates. During the year, some $69 million was spent on contract cleansing and about $200 million was spent on maintenance and improvements - mainly painting contracts, planned preventive maintenance of buildings and electrical systems, and estate improvements such as recreation areas and lighting.