7. In September 1952 another solution was tried when a group of public-spirited business and professional men agreed to establish a non-profit making organization to build cottages in the resettlement areas. The Hong Kong Settlers Housing Corporation, as it was called, was partly financed by Govern- ment and partly by subscriptions from the public and eventually built over 1,500 cottages which will become the property of their occupants after monthly hire purchase payments have been made for seven years.
8. Another method tried was the conversion of existing squatter areas into controlled resettlement areas by the building of paths, drains and latrines and the cutting of fire lanes through them.
9. By December 1953 a total of about 37,000 persons had been resettled by these methods when the disastrous Shek Kip Mei squatter fire occurred on Christmas night and over 53,000 were made homeless within a few hours. This was a serious crisis and immediate steps were taken by the Government to meet it. Not only were the usual emergency relief measures put in hand at once, but it was decided that public funds should be used to build temporary two-storey buildings on the fire. site as a matter of urgency. This decision to use public funds for resettlement buildings was a major change in policy which had far-reaching consequences.
10.
Meanwhile the Urban
Urban Council had appointed an Emergency Sub-Committee which came to the conclusion not only that the existing measures were not producing quick enough results but that they would never solve the squatter problem because there was not enough land available to house the remaining squatters in one-, or even two-, storey buildings. The solution proposed was the construction of six- or seven- storey buildings by Government, a possibility to which con- sideration was already being given in the Public Works Department. A second important recommendation was that a new department should be created which would be responsible for all matters connected with the clearance of squatters and their resettlement, a responsibility which had previously been divided between three separate departments.
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