SOCIAL WELFARE
Care of the Elderly
The White Paper 'Social Welfare into the 1990s and Beyond' laid down care in the community and by the community as the guiding principle for the planning and development of services for the elderly. To help families look after their elderly members and to enable old people to live with dignity in the community for as long as possible, community support services are provided. These include home help, day care, social and recreational facilities, canteen services, community education and respite care. At the end of 1993, there were 73 home help teams, 140 social centres, 19 multi-service centres, 13 day care centres and 13 respite care places. Financial assistance includes social security assistance and allowance. Housing assistance comprising compassionate rehousing and priority allocation of public housing continues to be available for those eligible. Sheltered housing is provided in private housing flats as well as in public housing estates for 2 725 elderly people who are capable of living independently. To provide timely services to the elderly at risk, two outreaching projects are funded by government subventions.
Residential facilities are provided for those who, for health or other reasons, are unable to look after themselves and who have no relatives or friends to assist them. At the end of 1993, there were 1 273 hostel places, 6 137 home places and 4716 care-and-attention places.
The Registration Office of Private Homes for the Elderly provides advice and assistance to private homes for the elderly to reach an acceptable service standard. Higher service standards are encouraged through the Voluntary Registration Scheme and through an offer to buy places from registered homes under the Bought Place Scheme.
To provide a regulatory framework and a set of uniform standards for all homes for old people, the Residential Care Home (Elderly Persons) Bill has been introduced in the Legislative Council.
Services for Young People
A wide range of services and activities are aimed at helping young people to become mature, responsible and contributing members of society. The services are designed for young people aged from six to 24 to foster the development of their personality, character, social aptitude, sense of civic responsibility and ability to use their leisure time constructively, and to enable those with adjustment problems to direct their energies towards positive goals in society.
At district level, apart from providing group work activities in community centres, the department promotes and co-ordinates youth programmes and volunteer groups through its youth offices. Since 1974, the department has been running the Opportunities for Youth Scheme. Every year young people are helped with funds to implement a variety of community service projects to meet specific social needs. Awards are given for outstanding projects to recognise the contributions of participants.
Children and youth centres, operated by subvented non-governmental organisations, serve as focal points for a variety of programmes and activities for the personal and social development of young people. The service is well developed and the provision meets 94 per cent of the demand. Hong Kong's youth population is projected to decline from 27.45 per cent of the general population in 1993-94 to 23.2 per cent in 1999-2000. To achieve cost-effectiveness, there is a need to redistribute resources by reprovisioning existing centres from areas where there is over-provision to newly-developed or redeveloped areas where
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