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HOUSING
THE public housing programme is well on the way to achieving its objective of providing homes by the turn of the century for all those in need.
Of the 72 100 public sector flats produced in 1993, 36 700 were rental units and 35 400 were for sale.
half the population
About three million people
now live in subsidised public housing in some 874 000 flats in 286 estates throughout Hong Kong. Some 2.6 million live in 688 000 rental units while some 500 000 live in purchased flats.
The year saw public housing on a large scale enter its 40th year in Hong Kong, having begun after the Shek Kip Mei squatter fire in December 1953 left 53 000 people homeless. Significantly, 1993 also saw the award of ISO 9001 certification to the authority's Construction Branch.
The first phase of the 'sandwich' class housing loan scheme was implemented to help middle-income families buy homes. The scheme, offered to 1000 families in 1993, was over-subscribed three-and-a-half times.
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The government continued to provide land for the private sector to sustain a high level of supply of competitively-priced private flats.
The government estimates that, by 1997, nearly 55 per cent of families in Hong Kong will own their own homes.
The Housing Strategy
The government's Long Term Housing Strategy, on which the public housing programme is based, calls for the Hong Kong Housing Authority and the Hong Kong Housing Society to build a further 175 000 public rental flats and 187 000 public flats for sale between 1993 and the year 2001.
Of this, the Housing Society, a non-profit-making housing agency, is to produce 26 000 flats.
These public housing projections do not include the output of 281 000 flats in that period by the private sector, which is forecast to meet about 45 per cent of the overall needs of the community.
Public housing estates are developed as total living environments and include a wide range of community, commercial and transport facilities.
There is also a continuing programme to redevelop the older estates, to bring them up to the latest designs and standards.
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