HOUSING
Turning to Tai Po, the Fu Heng Estate at Tai Po Area 8 with a total of 5 768 rental and 2 040 HOS flats has been completed. For the Wan Tau Tong Estate at Tai Po Area 6, 1870 rental flats together with 1224 rental/HOS flats have been handed over to the tenants/purchasers. The remaining 816 rental and 816 rental/HOS flats will all be completed in 1991.
In Yuen Long area, the public housing development in the Tin Shui Wai new town is beginning to take shape. The first rental blocks in Tin Yiu Estate Phase 1 at Tin Shui Wai Area 5 will be completed early in 1992. New tenants will then begin to fill the 1 632 new flats. Construction of other phases of Tin Shui Wai public housing development is now proceeding according to schedule.
In Tseung Kwan O, 1 523 rental flats in King Lam Phase 4 have been completed. Construction of Hau Tak Estate, with a total of 4 054 rental and 1 216 rental/HOS flats, is scheduled for completion in 1993.
Under the PSPS programme, 2 300 new flats at On Ning Garden were completed early in the year.
Redevelopment
Redevelopment of the older estates to bring them up to current standards is an integral part of public housing development.
During the year, the authority completed a rehousing programme in which half a million people were moved from old estates into new premises in an improved living environment.
In the programme involving redevelopment of the estates built in the late 1950s as an emergency measure for victims of squatter fires and natural disasters, a total of 240 blocks in 12 estates were demolished to make way for new buildings, or in some cases, converted into self-contained flats.
With the completion of this rehousing programme, begun in 1972, the authority has embarked on another phase of redevelopment which will include the remainder of the old estates and former low-cost housing estates.
In the five years from 1992, some 199 blocks housing 65 000 families will be redeveloped.
Rent Policy for Public Housing
Despite increasing operating and maintenance costs, rents for domestic premises in public housing estates have been maintained at low levels. This has been possible as a result of government subsidies in the form of free land and low interest rates.
Domestic rents for new public housing estates are set so as not to exceed a median rent-income ratio of 15 per cent. Rents at present stand at $36.6 per square metre for the newest urban estates, and $27.6 for the newest New Territories estates. These levels are about one-third to one-fourth of existing market rents.
On average, public housing tenants pay seven per cent of their income on rent.
Rents are reviewed every two years and adjusted to take account of rate increases, maintenance and other costs, estate values in terms of location, facilities and services provided, and also the tenants' ability to pay.
Owing to the very low rents in old estates where maintenance and improvement costs are high, there is an overall deficit in the Housing Authority's estate working account for domestic properties.
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