HOUSING
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The overcrowding position on older estates has improved steadily over the years through various overcrowding relief exercises. Compared with 1973, when 77 000 households or 39.1 per cent of families in public housing estates were living at less than 2.23 square metres per person, only nine per cent were living below this density at the end of 1983. With an increasing number of new estates being completed, overcrowded families are provided with a greater chance to apply for transfers. The flats they vacate, usually being smaller and having a lower rent, are used for further overcrowding relief or made available for rehousing other families in need. Families wishing to move to a different flat can also register with the Mutual Exchange Bureau or, if they have valid reasons for moving other than overcrowding, they can request a transfer to a suitable flat.
Maintenance and improvements are major items of estate expenditure, particularly in the older estates. During the year, some $118 million was spent on contract services such as cleansing, security and gardening, and about $380 million on painting contracts, planned preventive maintenance of buildings and electrical systems, and estate improvements such as recreation areas and lighting.
Temporary Housing
Temporary housing, which provides, accommodation for the homeless who do not immediately qualify for admission to permanent public housing, has grown in-importance in recent years to become a vital adjunct to the housing and development programmes. As a relatively rapid and inexpensive means of providing homes, it has enabled the Housing Authority to rehouse very large numbers of people made homeless by fire or landslip or other natural calamity. It is also an essential constituent in land clearance, having provided alternative homes for 37 100 people - 66 per cent of those involved in clearances in 1983. In recognition of these factors, the construction programme for temporary housing now aims to provide homes for 150 000 people in 1984.
The quality of both accommodation and facilities has improved remarkably over the years. Temporary housing blocks are now built as a duplex wooden framework on a concrete hardstanding with a pitched asbestos-cement roof. Hostels for single persons are one-storey constructions. Space is allocated to families according to family size and each unit is provided with its own water and electricity supply, while communal lavatories and bathing facilities are located separately. Since some may have to spend several years waiting their turn for permanent public housing, rest and play areas, market stalls, mutual aid committee offices and other community services such as restaurants, medical clinics and kindergartens may also be provided. There are round-the-clock security guards and a comprehensive management service. The monthly rent ranges from $6.50 to $9.70 a square metre.
During the year, 37 100 people, including 11 000 victims of natural calamities, moved into temporary housing. This brought to 130 400 the number of people living in 47 temporary housing areas managed by the authority, taking into account that during the year 27 400 moved out, mostly into permanent public housing.
Transit Centres
Transit centres give immediate shelter to people made homeless by natural disasters until more permanent arrangements can be made for them. They offer a transient home in a variety of other circumstances. During the year, one wing of the Housing Authority's Hoi Tai Flatted Factory in Tuen Mun was converted into a transit centre for 2 000 people, which enabled the authority to close the previous main centre housed in a rented industrial